Kim Cổ Pagoda

Kim Cổ is named after the village. The relic is also called Đồng Thiên Quán, or Kim Cổ Temple. It originally belonged to Kim Bát village, later renamed Kim Cổ village, Tiền Túc canton, Thọ Xương district, Thăng Long capital. Later, Tiền Túc canton was renamed Thuận Mỹ canton, Thọ Xương district.

The book 'Hà Nội of a Thousand Years Past' says that Kim Cổ ward was also called Cổ Vũ, a famous ward of Thăng Long capital. In the 11th century, King Lý Thánh Tông built a palace in Kim Cổ ward for Royal Concubine Ỷ Lan. During her time there, she had Đồng Thiên Quán built within the palace grounds. At the beginning of the Tây Sơn period, the quán was moved to An Thái village; on the old foundation, the villagers of Kim Cổ built a temple worshiping Empress Dowager Linh Nhân Ỷ Lan. In the Tự Đức reign of the Nguyễn dynasty, along with expanding the scale of the temple to Ỷ Lan, Buddhism was also introduced for worship at the temple, and from then on the relic also had the name 'pagoda'.

The process of construction, restoration, and transformation of the relic was recorded by Doctor Lê Duy Trung, Scholar of the Hanlin Academy and Education Commissioner of Thanh Hóa, on the stele 'Kim Cổ Village Stele Inscription' erected in the 13th year of Tự Đức (1860): '... Under our king's reign (the Nguyễn dynasty), the fortunes of worship rose, all things were renewed and bright, becoming ever more prosperous and beautiful. The worship of emperors of successive dynasties, flags and fans, and ritual objects all have regulations. If the sacrificial house is not spacious, how can it be worthy of the magnificent residences of kings and lords? The scale could be expanded, but unfortunately money and materials were lacking. Former Provincial Administration Commissioner of Tuyên Quang province, promoted to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Bùi Thương Hán, an accomplished official of our Kim Cổ village, contributed 100 taels of silver, and the work was completed. In the Kỷ Mùi year of Tự Đức (1859), construction began in the first month of winter and was completed in the last month of winter (November).'

The above records show that the current content of Kim Cổ Pagoda includes Buddhist worship and a memorial to the historical figure Royal Concubine Ỷ Lan, originating from nearly 1,000 years ago when she was granted a private palace by the Lý king in Kim Cổ ward.

Kim Cổ Pagoda formerly had a large architectural scale in the shape of the character 'tam' (三). Later, after the French destroyed and dismantled the pagoda, local people contributed money to rebuild it. Currently, the pagoda has a small architectural scale, located adjacent to the Đường Thành street sidewalk and the Tạm Thương communal house area. The structures include: an entrance gate, a worship area, and a narrow courtyard.

The pagoda gate is built of brick, formed by ornamental pillars combined with small wall sections. Above the entrance, the gateway is built in a two-tier, eight-roof style with upturned corner eaves. On the frieze between the two roofs, four Chinese characters 'Kim Cổ cổ tự' are embossed. The main structure is laid out in the shape of the character 'đinh' (丁). The three-bay front hall is built with closed gable walls, roofed with Vietnamese tiles, and the roof-supporting trusses are of the crossbeam truss type, with crossbeams placed directly on buttressed walls. The three-bay upper sanctuary is built with closed gable walls, connected to the front hall, and roofed with Vietnamese tiles.

Currently, Kim Cổ Pagoda still preserves a collection of artifacts that attest to the relic's presence in history, including: 8 Buddha statues in 19th-century art, 1 statue of Royal Concubine Ỷ Lan seated in a niche, some Mother Goddess and attendant statues; 3 steles bearing Nguyễn dynasty reign titles; 1 bronze bell bearing a Nguyễn dynasty reign title, 2 worship cranes standing on turtles' backs; 1 hanging curtain, 1 dragon-carved scroll; 3 red-lacquered horizontal plaques, 2 pairs of parallel couplets, one pair with the content:

Kim Cổ, a famous temple, its splendid appearance glorious, a pagoda of a thousand ages

Đồng Quán, a scenic relic, with compassion universally saving the people of the ten directions.

Meaning:

Kim Cổ, a famous temple, with glorious scenery at the ancient pagoda

Đồng Quán is beautiful; compassion universally saves all ten directions.

Its construction originated as Đồng Thiên Quán, then the object of worship changed to a temple, and then a pagoda. The Kim Cổ Pagoda relic is valuable material for understanding the planning of Thăng Long during the Lý period, especially regarding the 'Four Quán of Thăng Long', a unique cultural feature of Hà Nội capital in the past.

Kim Cổ Pagoda was ranked as a historical and architectural-artistic relic by the Ministry of Culture and Information in 1996./.