Build another Nguyen Trai temple next to the existing temple?

According to the plan of the site proposed by Thuong Tin district to solicit the opinions of researchers, the memorial area of cultural celebrity Nguyen Trai has an area of 35,000 ^m2 . This area will also have a parking lot, a ceremonial gate, a gong tower, a drum tower, a lake, left and right corridors, a monument, a souvenir shop, a management and reception house, and a Hue Pond area.


	The scale or size of a monument is not a measure of the greatness of a famous person or our respect for them. What matters is how we create the monuments or forms of commemoration.

Architect LE THANH VINH , former Director of the Institute for Monument Conservation

Currently, Ao Hue area is also part of the Nguyen Trai church relic which was ranked at the national level in Decision No. 29/VH-QD of the Ministry of Culture in 1964. Thus, if the plan is approved, we can have 2 Nguyen Trai temples located "next door" to each other, both in Nhi Khe village, Nhi Khe commune, Thuong Tin district.

According to Ms. Le Thi Lieu, Vice Chairwoman of Thuong Tin District People's Committee, one of the reasons for the locality to raise the issue of building a larger memorial area is that Nguyen Trai's church is small in scale, located on the family's private land. In addition, the area for further renovation is located 500 meters away from the church grounds, and the architectural items are small in scale.

"Therefore, the relic site is not worthy of the stature and position of the world cultural celebrity and national liberation hero Nguyen Trai," she said.

The temple does not need to be big!

Regarding this local argument, Associate Professor Dr. Pham Mai Hung, Vice President of the Vietnam Historical Science Association, commented that such an argument is too simple and not convincing.

Specifically, Mr. Hung said that the entire city of Hanoi has up to 22 temples of famous people from different eras owned by the clan community. “In a village, there is no place in our country where there are two temples, worshiping the same god/or national hero, cultural celebrity”, Mr. Hung said.

In addition, Mr. Hung said: “The construction of a new temple to Nguyen Trai will certainly create unnecessary discord between the Nguyen family in Nhi Khe and the local government. The discord is not because of humanistic values but because of material benefits - namely revenue from ticket sales to visit the memorial site.”

Not to mention, according to Mr. Hung, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism can hardly support the policy of building a new Nguyen Trai temple in Nhi Khe when there is already a Nguyen Trai temple here that has been ranked as a historical and cultural relic by the Ministry.

Architect Le Thanh Vinh, former Director of the Institute for Monument Conservation (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), suggested that if there is already a temple, then no more should be built. We should also not worry about the scale of the existing temple. “Scale or size is not a measure of the greatness of the famous person or our heart towards them. What is important is how we create works or forms of souvenirs and memorials so that when people come there, they will have historical feelings and associate with the famous person and the value they created,” said Mr. Vinh.

From this perspective, Mr. Vinh believes that the Nguyen Trai temple in Nhi Khe today has a relic space that is very suitable for the traditional worship and commemoration of the Vietnamese people. The temple also has valuable artifacts such as a pair of wooden cranes in the style of the Le Dynasty, parallel sentences praising Nguyen Trai's talent and virtue, which are said to have been bestowed upon him by King Le Thanh Tong when he was exonerated. The temple has also been considered a sacred place for many generations.

Cultural park and museum

Although he does not agree with the idea of building a new temple to worship Nguyen Trai next to the existing temple, according to Mr. Vinh, it is still possible to develop a memorial area in Nhi Khe village. “It is possible to create a memorial area, not a memorial, because the memorial function already exists in the temple. The memorial area will have items to preserve relics, events and works of the famous person Nguyen Trai. Here, new techniques can be used to recreate his life and career. The memorial area combined with the temple and the monument area will form a memorial system for Nguyen Trai in Nhi Khe,” Mr. Vinh proposed.

Professor Le Van Lan also said that a memorial area with a Nguyen Trai museum should be built here, but building a museum will be difficult when the extermination of the Nguyen Trai family has taken away many possible artifacts. “We are lucky to still have the Ao Hue site. That is where he lived and taught, where there is a legend of the vengeful snake. We also have great works. From there, we can open a museum about Nguyen Trai's life and career. Just be careful not to do it in the way of just collecting books and putting them in a cabinet,” Mr. Lan suggested.

Associate Professor, Dr. Dang Van Bai, Vice President of the Vietnam Cultural Heritage Association, said that commemorating Nguyen Trai needs to be placed in relation to honoring Nhi Khe village - a village with a tradition of Confucianism and famous woodturning craft.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/xay-them-den-tho-nguyen-trai-canh-den-co-san-185799769.htm