Cầu Cả Pagoda (Uy Như Tự)
Introduction
Cầu Cả Pagoda has the Han-character name “Uy Như Tự” and is located in Cầu Cả Village, Cổ Loa Commune. The village is also called Cầu Village or Cầu Hamlet, so local people often call it Cầu Pagoda.
The pagoda was built in the 19th century and renovated in the 20th century. Previously, the pagoda was located on land shared with the communal house. In the 6th year of King Khải Định's reign (1921), the pagoda was moved to its current location. On the pagoda's roof beam is recorded the date: Khải Định sixth year, year of Tân Dậu… thụ trụ thượng lương (In the year of Tân Dậu, the 6th year of Khải Định (1921), the pagoda was erected).
After 1954, the pagoda was renovated and repairs were made to the main pagoda architecture, the ancestor house, the Mother Goddess hall, and the ancestor statues, which had deteriorated over time. In the 2018–2020 period, the pagoda was fully restored, including the three-entrance gate, the main sanctuary, the ancestor house, the Mother Goddess house, the guest house, and the courtyard and garden…
The pagoda's three-entrance gate is built in the style of a stacked-eave arch with two roof tiers, made of stone, with tubular-tile roofing; on the roof ridge of all three gates is a flaming sun motif, with the main gate and two side gates opening the way into the Buddha's gate. Connecting to the small gates by low walls are two large pillars. Next to them is a fence wall, with small pillars connected to each other. On the gate pillars and walls are decorations featuring the four seasons, dancing phoenixes, flowers and fruits, dragons and clouds, and leaf-shaped seals.
The main pagoda faces west and has a “đinh”-shaped layout with five bays. The front hall is in front, and the upper sanctuary has two bays and one side bay connected behind. The front hall is built in the style of a gable end with closed corners and ornamental pillars. In the middle of the front hall's roof ridge is a raised lotus cluster supporting the Buddhist wheel of reincarnation; at both gable ends are Lạc Long water-monster head-shaped finials. The floor is higher than the courtyard with five steps; stone veranda columns support the brackets, creating a wide veranda running along all five bays; the three central bays have folding panel doors, and the two side bays have walls with “longevity” character windows. Decoration on the architecture mainly consists of leaf patterns, cloud patterns, and edging…
The upper sanctuary consists of a three-bay, one-side-bay building running lengthwise with three roof truss sets, each with two columns and brick walls on both sides. The trusses are designed in the giá chiêng style, with lower tie beams resting on the walls on both sides. Decoration is simple, such as edging, leaf patterns, and cloud patterns…
In the upper sanctuary, a stepped brick platform is built to arrange worship statues. These include the Three Ages of the Eternal Dharma Body statues; Amitabha, Guanyin, and Mahasthamaprapta; Shakyamuni, Ananda, and Mahakasyapa; and the Nine Dragons throne with the infant Shakyamuni. The small bay on the left of the upper sanctuary is South Sea Guanyin, and the right is Child-Giving Guanyin. In the front hall are the Dharma Protectors Khuyến Thiện (Encouraging Good) and Trừng Ác (Punishing Evil); the Lord Đức Ông altar on the right and the Holy Monk altar on the left.
The entire architecture is decorated with colorful, shimmering ornamental hangings featuring the Four Sacred Creatures, such as dragons adoring, phoenixes dancing, and turtles carrying lotus flowers; the Four Seasons themes mainly include fully blooming chrysanthemums symbolizing the sun, stylized lotus flowers, old bamboo turning into dragons, clouds, and wave dots…
The pagoda's Mother Goddess House and Ancestor House, newly rebuilt on the left, have seven bays and are built in the style of gable ends with closed corners. The wooden trusses are decorated with leaf patterns, transformed dragons, and Four Seasons motifs… Inside, platforms are built to arrange statues for worshiping the Mother Goddess and the Ancestors, the Mountain Deities altar, and the altar of Saint Trần…
Cầu Cả Pagoda still preserves a number of precious artifacts, such as several statues created in the 19th century and two hậu steles of the same date, the Khải Định year
6 (1921); a bronze bell cast in the 4th year of Bảo Đại (1929), along with a number of other worship objects.
In the first days of spring, the Cầu Cả village festival is held at the communal house and pagoda. In addition, the pagoda still maintains the Ancestor Commemoration Ceremony on the 25th day of the 10th lunar month every year; on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, large numbers of local people come to make offerings.
The pagoda also bears traces of many activities of guerrillas and local troops during the resistance war against the French colonialists. Many district leaders and cadres were also sheltered and hidden here by the pagoda and local people to continue revolutionary activities. Maintaining a guerrilla team operating at Cầu Cả Pagoda contributed to protecting the revolutionary movement and combat activities against the enemy during our people's nine-year long resistance war against the French.
The relic site of Cầu Cả Pagoda (Uy Như Tự) was ranked as a City-level historical and cultural relic by the Hanoi People's Committee in Decision No. 1651/QĐUB/2003 dated March 25, 2003.
