CAM ĐÀ PAGODA (DI ĐÀ TEMPLE) – VĂN CHỈ OF CAM ĐÀ VILLAGE

The village pagoda of Cam Đà has existed for a long time and witnessed many ups and downs of the countryside as well as changes among the local people. The pagoda has the Sino-Vietnamese name Di Đà Tự (also known by its vernacular name Chùa Đè), located at the village entrance to the east of the communal house and facing east.

The pagoda is built on a high mound in Chùa Hamlet, facing the Red River and backed by Ba Vì Mountain. It is about 500 m from Cam Đà Communal House. Previously, the pagoda had a spacious compound with open surroundings, but after the August Revolution of 1945 the compound was divided, with part used as the commune health station. By the 1970s, local people had built houses around the pagoda. Therefore, the pagoda's current compound is narrowed within a surrounding wall.

The overall layout includes the following structures: the three-entrance gate (Tam quan), the main sanctuary (Tam bảo), the Patriarch's house (nhà Tổ), and the Mother's house (Nhà Mẫu). The first structure of the Cam Đà Pagoda complex is the three-entrance gate; after crossing a courtyard paved with Bát bricks, one reaches the Tam bảo – the main building of the pagoda, with a Đinh-shaped plan. To the right of the front hall is the Patriarch's house, and to the left is the Mother's house. Because the pagoda has a narrow compound, there is no garden of stupas and tombs; the monks' stupas are currently located in the public cemetery of Cam Đà Village.