Van Nien Pagoda is located on the western shore of West Lake, with the side gate address at 364 Lac Long Quan Street, Tay Ho District, Hanoi City. Van Nien Pagoda, formerly known as Van Tue, was built in the 11th century under the Ly Dynasty, which means it is now more than 1,000 years old.
Van Nien Pagoda is not too large, but is located near West Lake, so the landscape is airy and the air is fresh. This is a place that attracts many people and tourists to come to worship and sightsee.
After more than 1,000 years of existence, with many restorations and embellishments, the pagoda is still a wooden work of art with patterns and motifs imbued with Eastern culture.
The temple worships Buddha and Mother Goddess, including 5 compartments, 3 main halls. The houses are built facing East according to the layout including the main gate, main temple, mother temple, monk's house, and auxiliary house. Surrounding the architecture is a garden of ancient trees, which helps to enhance the beauty and tranquility of the Zen gate, creating a unique cultural and artistic relic.
On the roof of the temple there are three embossed seal characters "Van Nien Tu".
The architecture of the three-entrance gate, the front hall, the ancestral house, the guest house, the Quan Am tower... uses traditional materials such as wood. The traditional patterns on the columns, beams... are meticulously carved, using familiar decorative themes of the Vietnamese people such as the Four Sacred Animals and the Four Seasons.
Inside the pagoda, there are 46 round statues, including 26 Buddha statues, 20 Mother Goddess statues, and Ancestor statues. Some of the statues date back to the Le Trung Hung period (17th and 18th centuries) and some date back to the Nguyen Dynasty. In addition to its Buddhist architectural value, the pagoda also preserves collections of cultural and historical value such as royal decrees from the Le and Tay Son dynasties, bronze bells from the Nguyen Dynasty... The bronze bell "Van Nien Tu Chung" was cast under King Gia Long (1802 - 1820) with an inscription describing Van Nien Pagoda as a majestic ancient temple in the west of Thang Long citadel.
Van Nien Pagoda was ranked as a National Architectural and Artistic Relic by the Ministry of Culture and Information (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) in 1996.
In 2010, on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi, Van Nien Pagoda held a ceremony to inaugurate the Jade Buddha Hall. The statue of Buddha Sakyamuni was carved from a rare natural jade block from Myanmar, measuring 1.3m in height and weighing 600kg. The sacred jade Buddha statue is considered "one of a kind" in Vietnam.
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