Tu Luong Xam relic complex

(CLO) On the evening of February 12, the People's Committee of Hai Phong City held a ceremony to receive the certificate of ranking the Tu Luong Xam Relic Complex - the headquarters of King Ngo Quyen in 938 as a special national relic and opened the Tu Luong Xam Traditional Festival in 2025, commemorating the 1087th anniversary of the Bach Dang victory and the 1081st anniversary of the death of King Ngo Quyen.

Hai Phong relic complex of Tu Luong Xam Don received the rank of special national relics photo 1 — Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long presented the Prime Minister's decision to rank the Tu Luong Xam relic complex - Ngo Quyen's headquarters in 938 as a special national relic to the People's Committee of Hai Phong city.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long attended and presented the Prime Minister's decision to rank the Tu Luong Xam relic complex - Ngo Quyen's headquarters in 938 as a special national relic to the People's Committee of Hai Phong city.

Hai Phong relic complex of Tu Luong Xam Don received the rank of special national relic photo 2 — Lion Dance Performance at the Opening Night of the Festival

The festival was also attended by leaders of central and local ministries, leaders of Hai Phong city and thousands of residents and tourists.

Speaking at the Festival, Mr. Ho An Phong, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, requested Hai An District, Hai Phong City to pay attention to the planning, development and conservation of Tu Luong Xam Relic Complex. Continue to research, collect, excavate, conduct archaeology, and further clarify the history of the area where the relics are located.

At the same time, widely propagate the historical, cultural, scientific and aesthetic values of the relic, the good values of the festival in the cultural life of the community, link the development of socio-economy and tourism, contribute to building and fostering national pride, educating the tradition of patriotism to become an attractive tourist destination for domestic and foreign tourists. Strengthen training, raise awareness, capacity, qualifications of cultural staff and workers. The role and responsibility of authorities at all levels, communities, cultural subjects in the work of preserving and promoting the value of this relic, heritage, and festival. Pay attention to perfecting the landscape to protect the ecological environment to create a complete cultural space of the relic and festival.

With the aim of widely disseminating the life, career and great contributions of the national hero Ngo Quyen, the historic Bach Dang victory and the Tu Luong Xam relic cluster - the headquarters of King Ngo Quyen in 938, the Tu Luong Xam Festival program contributes to arousing national pride, promoting traditional cultural values, love for the homeland, meeting the cultural and religious needs of the people. Thereby, promoting propaganda and promotion so that visitors inside and outside the city can know about the historical and cultural values of the Tu Luong Xam relic cluster - the headquarters of King Ngo Quyen in 938.

Hai Phong relic complex of Tu Luong Xam Don received the rank of special national relic photo 3 — Procession at Tu Luong Xam Festival

The traditional festival takes place with traditional rituals such as: The communal house worship ceremony at 8:00 a.m., the traditional procession takes place from 5:30 p.m. on February 12, 2025 (ie January 15, At Ty year) and cultural and artistic activities: Volleyball tournament, tug of war, human chess, sack race, calligraphy and folk games... take place during the days of the traditional festival.

At the Festival, the unique and magnificent art program recreated the glorious victory of King Ngo Quyen on the historic Bach Dang River in 938, with the participation of many famous artists; including artists and singers: Tung Duong, Phuong Anh, Ngoc Anh, Rapper Ram C... and was broadcast live on THP channel and digital platforms of Hai Phong Radio and Television.

The Tu Luong Xam relic complex is one of 22 national and municipal relics in Hai An district that worship King Ngo Quyen and is honored as “Tu Ca” - the leading place to worship King Ngo Quyen. Historical evidence still remains about a battle on Bach Dang River that “resounds for thousands of years” with many great historical values left for posterity today.

Regarding King Ngo Quyen, he is one of the 14 typical national heroes of Vietnam. In 938, he was the leader of the people to defeat the Southern Han army in the historic battle on Bach Dang River, ending more than 1,000 years of "the long night of Northern domination", opening a long-term era of independence and autonomy for the nation. With Ngo Quyen's merits, many dynasties have bestowed upon him the title "The Supremely Spiritual Great King, the King of Ngo, the founder of the nation".

The Tu Luong Xam relic complex is located on a large, high land in the Northeast of Nam Hai ward, Hai An district. The main facade of the relic complex faces East towards Bach Dang estuary. Legend has it that in preparation for the Bach Dang battle in 938, Ngo Quyen chose this place as a place to store food and set up a headquarters to observe and command the historic Bach Dang battle. He chose a favorable location to directly command the construction of stakes, arrange forces, and organize ambushes ready to destroy the invading Southern Han army. There are still traces of the palanquin road of that time here.

According to historical records, Tu Luong Xam was built majestically during the Later Le Dynasty and restored during the Nguyen Dynasty. Therefore, the entire architecture of the temple today is in the Nguyen Dynasty's artistic style, with only a few structures in the Le Dynasty's artistic style. Looking at the whole picture, the temple has a closed, continuous "inner public, outer private" layout. Located on a large, high land with many ancient trees, on the grounds of Ngo Quyen's headquarters and granary against the Southern Han invaders in the past.

Not only the architecture, the antiques in the temple will bring visitors a different feeling when admiring. The temple still preserves 3 Bach Dang stakes as evidence of the Bach Dang battle in 938. Up to now, Tu Luong Xam still preserves 25 main royal decrees and more than 20 copied royal decrees dating from 1522 to 1924. In those decrees, many dynasties honored King Ngo Quyen as "The Supreme Most Sacred King", "Ngo Vuong Thien Tu" and many other beautiful titles.

On the left side of the Tu Luong Xam relic site is the statue of King Ngo Quyen, erected in 2010 on an area of 1,500 m2. The statue is made of cast granite - covered with electrolytic copper, the total height of the statue and pedestal is 11.37 m. The statue looks to the East, towards the Bach Dang River mouth - where the historic Bach Dang battle took place in 938. The statue stands in a commanding position, its right hand pointing straight towards the Bach Dang River mouth as if directing the battle, its left hand resting on the hilt of the sword. The construction of the statue of King Ngo Quyen has great significance for the people of Hai An district, it is a symbol of patriotism, solidarity and national pride.

In addition to preserving many valuable artifacts and antiques, this relic also has a system of ancient trees, including many red cotton trees that are over 500 years old, which further enhances the ancient beauty of the relic, attracting thousands of visitors every time Tet comes and spring comes. Every year, on January 16, Tu Luong Xam Festival takes place, attracting tens of thousands of visitors and local people to attend.

This is also the biggest festival in Hai An district, the only festival that makes most local people willing to put aside all their personal and family worries for the festival. In 2022, Tu Luong Xam Festival was recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The unique feature, different from other village festivals, is the ritual with the sacrificial teams of "Tu Linh Tu" of Luong Xam and some Ngo Quyen relics in Hai An district coming together to worship at Tu Luong Xam and the traditional procession with the participation of the processions of the villages with Ngo Quyen relics such as: Luong Xam, Xam Bo Ha Lung, Ha Doan and the procession of the wards and the palanquin procession converging in front of the gate of "Tu Ca" Tu Luong Xam - one of the sacred "tu linh" of the ancient district of An Duong and the "tam linh" of Hai An district today, creating a large-scale ceremony towards the origin.

One of the things that makes Tu Luong Xam relic complex of historical value is that it preserves artifacts throughout the heroic period of building and defending the country of the nation, including: 125 artifacts, antiques and 25 royal decrees dating from 1522 to 1924 of the Le So, Mac, Le Trung Hung, Tay Son, Nguyen dynasties. In particular, the temple still preserves 3 stakes - considered to be evidence of the historic Bach Dang battle in 938.

With those values and meanings, in 1986, Tu Luong Xam was ranked as a National Historical and Cultural Relic by the Ministry of Culture (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism). In 2022, the traditional Tu Luong Xam festival was recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage. Notably, on January 17, 2025, the Prime Minister decided to rank the Tu Luong Xam Relic Complex - the headquarters of Ngo Quyen in 938 as a special national relic.