Dau Pagoda

Dau Pagoda, whose literary name is Phap Vu Tu or Thanh Dao Tu, located in Gia Phuc Village, Thuong Phuc Commune, Hanoi. Originally a place of worship for deities in the Four Dharma system associated with wet-rice agricultural beliefs, Dau Pagoda has undergone cultural and Buddhist exchange and acculturation, becoming a distinctive belief–cultural space.

The pagoda has a large architectural scale and is laid out in the style of “inner công, outer quốc”, including the Tam Quan – Bell Tower, left and right side halls, front hall, main sanctuary, ancestor hall… Among them, the two-story, eight-roofed Tam Quan that also serves as the Bell Tower and the Front Hall are outstanding structures preserving many traditional artistic marks. The carvings of dragons, phoenixes, unicorns, and flowers and plants, together with the system of horizontal plaques, couplets, stone steles, and ritual objects, reflect distinctive artistic values from many historical periods. In particular, Dau Pagoda still preserves a bell cast in the 9th year of Canh Thinh (1801) and many valuable artifacts from the Mac, Le, and Nguyen dynasties.
The special value of Dau Pagoda is also expressed through the two mummified-body statues of Zen masters Vu Khac Minh and Vu Khac Truong, which have existed since the 17th century and are considered relatively intact and unique mummified-body statues in Vietnam. These are heritage pieces of special historical, cultural, and spiritual value for Vietnamese Buddhism.
With a system of architecture, sculpture, and artifacts bearing the marks of many periods Ly – Tran – Le – Nguyen, Dau Pagoda is a bright spot in the cultural heritage system of Thuong Phuc and Hanoi; at the same time, it is a spiritual cultural space attractive to local people and visitors from afar.