Mạch Tràng Pagoda (Linh Quang Tự)

Mạch Tràng Pagoda has the literary name “Linh Quang Tự” (meaning radiant and sacred), located next to Mạch Tràng Communal House, quite close to the An Dương Vương Temple area and Princess Mỵ Châu’s shrine. The pagoda was built during the Lê Trung Hưng period (18th century) and was recently restored in 2001. The pagoda has a total area of nearly 5,000 m2. Its architecture is arranged in the “inner công, outer quốc”, including the tam quan gate, bell tower, main pagoda, giải vũ house; on both sides behind the pagoda are the Tổ (Patriarch) Hall and Mẫu (Mother Goddess) Hall, consisting of a 5-bay front hall and a 1-bay rear sanctuary. In the pagoda’s overall architecture, the tam quan gate and the main pagoda are the two most representative structures.

The pagoda’s tam quan gate is located on the village’s main axis road, next to the communal house. The tam quan is designed as a bell tower with a two-tiered overlapping roof. The tam quan bell tower has 3 bays with 4 wooden trusses, with the central bay wider. On the roof of the central truss, the construction date is recorded as the 5th year of Khải Định (1920).

The main pagoda adjoins the courtyard with two architectural parts, the front hall and the upper sanctuary, arranged in the shape of the character “ding”. The front hall has 5 bays and 2 side wings, built with a wooden frame and covered with local tiles; both gable ends are bricked up, with tay ngai and trụ biểu, and a high brick-paved floor. The upper sanctuary has 4 bays, running lengthwise to connect with the front hall, with the structure “upper chồng rường, lower kẻ chuyền”. The architectural decoration is attractive, with two mê-panel brackets in the central truss carved in relief like a bas-relief, vividly depicting the four sacred creatures gathered together, dragons attending, combined with the four seasons. These are quite beautiful works of this architecture. The Thiêu Hương Hall – upper sanctuary shares a roof with the central bay of the front hall and consists of 4 bays and 2 side wings. In the bays of the Thiêu Hương Hall – upper sanctuary, there are decorative cửa võng canopies and horizontal plaques with couplets praising the Buddha. The cửa võng canopy in the upper sanctuary area is called the Thiều Châu cửa võng, with openwork, pierced, and raised carving styles, decorated with the four sacred creatures and four seasons, dragons or tiger emblems interwoven with flowers and leaves very intricately. The cửa võng canopies are all carefully lacquered and gilded in bright colors. There are 7 horizontal plaques and couplets decorated with lemon-vine flowers at the edges, on a meander-pattern background, and painted vermilion and gilded. Most carvings at Mạch Tràng Pagoda strongly reflect the carving art style of the Nguyễn period (19th century).

The Tổ and Mẫu Halls have a 5-bay structure but only 2 rear extension bays at the back. The two corridors are connected through this structure to form a common walkway at the front. In front of the two sides of the corridors are two Patriarch stupas; there is also another stupa behind the tam quan gate, beside the pagoda entrance. The pagoda’s Patriarch monks are sculpted as statues and worshipped in 2 bays of the front ritual hall. The right side worships the Patriarch, and the left side worships the Ân Sư (Gratitude Master). Every year, the Patriarchal death anniversary is solemnly held on the 28th day of the 2nd lunar month.

The pagoda still preserves 38 freestanding statues, made mainly of earth and wood and worshipped chiefly in the upper sanctuary. These statues are all carefully lacquered and gilded, showing quite high sculptural art, dating from the 18th–19th centuries. Notably, the pagoda has hậu (benefactor) statues—one male and one female—whose clothing shows the noble status of the benefactors. This matches the tradition that one was a quận chúa, daughter of the Trịnh lord, and her husband contributed to building the pagoda, so they were worshipped as benefactors here. The two hậu statues are placed on wooden lotus pedestals and carefully painted vermilion and gilded. In addition to the systems of Buddha, Mother Goddess, and Patriarch statues, the pagoda also preserves a bronze bell, “Quang Linh Tự Chung” cast in the Nhâm Thìn year, 1952, along with some bronze ritual objects such as incense burners, vases, and offering stands.

The pagoda still preserves 12 stone steles; the earliest was erected in the 6th year of Tự Đức (1853), and the latest bears the Duy Tân era name, 5th year (1911). The stele inscriptions record that the pagoda was founded in the late 18th-century Hậu Lê period, the selection of benefactors, the names of benefactors, benefactor fields, and fields entrusted for death anniversary rituals.

Mạch Tràng Pagoda was also a center for teaching ordination to monks and nuns in the region, a place for summer retreats, ordination platforms, and sutra chanting for the Buddhist community. From 1946 to 1949, the pagoda was the headquarters of the Regional Resistance Committee. Mạch Tràng Pagoda was ranked as a National Architectural and Artistic Monument on September 27, 1997, and is part of the relic complex ranked as the Cổ Loa Special National Monument in 2012.