Visit Giong Phu Dong Temple

Phu Dong is a land of spiritual and human genius, belonging to the ancient Kinh Bac region, this place is famous for its long history and cultural traditions, associated with many legends about the early period of national construction and defense. of the nation.

Typically, the hero of Giong village “Phu Dong Thien Vuong” – one of the four immortal saints of Vietnamese folk beliefs – is still imprinted in the minds of Vietnamese people with stories passed down through generations. About a 3-year-old boy who defeated the invaders and defended the country.

The Thuy Dinh Temple at Phu Dong Temple, Gia Lam, Hanoi. (photo: PT)

Phu Dong Temple, also known as Thuong Temple, is the temple of Saint Giong. According to legend, the temple has existed since the time of Hung Vuong and was built on the old house of Giong’s mother. Towards the end of the 11th century, Ly Thai To repaired and ordered the Giong festival to be organized. The temple is close to the dike, arranged in the shape of the word “public”, on a large scale.

In front of the yard, right next to the foot of the dike, there is a large pond named puppet pond, where a water puppet show is held every year on festivals. In the pond, under the shadow of an ancient banyan tree with luxuriant branches and leaves, is a lovely water house.

Thuy Dinh was built in the style of “husband’s roof” from the Le Trung Hung period (17th century) with many sophisticated carvings on wood, with the theme being scenes of folk activities: goat herder, bronze pipe blower… Thuy Dinh has many epidemiological elements, on which the carvings speak the wishes of the people.

That is the gentleman who takes the intellect as the head, if there is no wisdom, people go into darkness, but ignorance and ignorance are synonymous with the germ of evil. Thereby, it is seen that the ancients taught to take the wisdom as the first, through wisdom that entered the good mind.

Through the brick yard to Nghi Mon is quite high, newly built at the end of the 19th century. In front, there are two stone dragons with rough but very strong carvings, below there are inscriptions indicating the age of the dragon’s creation in the year of the Rooster in the year of Vinh Thinh, ie 1705 during the reign of King Le Du Tong. Behind there are a pair of stone lions also made that year.

Next is the house of Thieu Huong (burning incense), similar to Thuy Dinh’s structure but smaller, roofed with tiles of relatively large size (20 cm x 30 cm).

There are many ancient wells in the site of Phu Dong temple. (photo: PT)

Adjacent to the house of Burning incense are two houses of Tien Sa which are quite large. The outside house was built by Dien Duke Nguyen Huy (1610-1675), a resident of Phu Duc village, next to Phu Dong commune. The house inside was created by Dang Cong Chat, the chief of Phu Dong village, who passed the poinsettia in 1661. Notably here are 39 bricks with dimensions of 30 x 20 x 10 (cm), each carved with a dragon image. These bricks were laid on the entrance steps to the palace. The two eastern three-room houses were presented by the righteous Dang Thi Hue of Lord Trinh Sam (18th century).

In the 12-chambered harem, there is a 3m high statue of Saint Giong, on both sides there are six statues of mandarins, martial arts, two phoenixes and four servants of the “four towns”. The architecture of the temple is nothing special, but it is noteworthy that the tops of the poles still retain the carvings of the Later Le period.

The temple still retains all 21 ordinations, 12 in the Le dynasty, 3 in the Tay Son dynasties, and 6 in the Nguyen dynasties. The oldest is the ordination of Duc Long in the 5th year (1634). In the Temple, there are many valuable artifacts: the altar from the Le Trung Hung period (17th century) with sophisticated carvings; A pair of birds with Chinese art provided by Dang Thi Hue, incense vases, Nghe dong, two swords, a couplets presented by the poet brothers Nguyen Du in 1818. There is a very beautiful stone stele at the side of the temple, which is also a Rare artifacts found in other temples in our country.