To Pagoda

The relic is in the Oai No area, Uy No Commune; in the past it had the vernacular name To Village. It has the Sino-Vietnamese name Khanh Son Tu, and like many other ancient pagodas in the midland and Red River Delta of northern Vietnam, it was built as a place of Buddhist worship for the village community. At the same time, it is also a place where people entrust their faith, a spiritual support, praying for the protection of the Buddha.

Through many changes over time, the impacts of war, nature and people have removed materials and documents recording the birth and development of this ancient pagoda. In the Ngoc Pha document recording about Trieu Viet Vuong, there is a passage mentioning when the king “fled to Uy No hamlet, Dong Ngan district, Tu Son prefecture, Kinh Bac region, saw that there was Khanh Son Pagoda () here and brought his troops to station there”. That shows that it has existed for a very long time. Due to the impacts of war, nature and people, materials and documents recording the birth and development of this ancient pagoda have been lost. Today, some physical traces and architectural details fortunately remain here; although they do not allow the pagoda to be systematically reconstructed, they still show its history of existence from the early 19th century to the present. Especially the major restoration in 1993, the pagoda's scale has remained intact as it is today.

It is located on a high, dry and spacious plot of land in the densely populated area of To Market. In addition to the main architectural section, the relic also has a green tree garden surrounding it, creating a landscape and a peaceful, quiet atmosphere at the Buddhist gate. Around the pagoda is a closed wall system, separated from the outside scene.

The gate is built in the style of a three-entrance bell tower gate, two stories; the upper story hangs a bell, and the lower story has three openings, one main door and two side doors, as the entrance and exit to the pagoda. The pagoda's front hall consists of five bays built of brick with gable walls. In the middle of the roof ridge, a raised rectangular structure is built, on which the relic's name is written in three large Han characters “Khanh Son Tu”. The frame of the front hall has a truss structure of the “gia chieng, bay hien”. The purlins, beams and rafters are smoothly planed and simply chamfered. Currently, on the physical architecture of the pagoda bearing the mark of the major restoration in 1993, only three beam ends supporting the transoms remain, carved in relief with dragon heads holding pearls in their mouths, with straight sword-like carvings running backward, bearing the mark of the transition from the Le to the Nguyen dynasty with the artistic style of the 18th-19th centuries. The upper sanctuary consists of three bays running lengthwise and connected to the middle bay of the front hall. The building has a transom truss structure, smoothly planed and tightly joined. The Ancestor House and Mother Goddess House have just been repaired and embellished, located to the left of the Three Jewels, with traditional architecture serving the spiritual needs of the people.

The artistic value of the relic is concentrated in the system of round statues. The statues here are not large in size, with creation dates spanning from the 19th to 20th centuries; they were crafted elaborately and meticulously, with balanced, harmonious and refined lines, each statue expressing the individual character of the deity worshipped, making people standing before each statue feel the sacred spirit from the eyes and smiles of the Buddhas. The Holy Mother statues have a rustic beauty, rich in humanity, with typical values of the traditional folk Mother Goddess statue sculpture art of the 19th century. The wood carving art in the pagoda is concentrated in some details such as beam ends, curtain doors, altar niches, etc. Among the decorative motifs, the subject depicted most attentively is the dragon image with highly creative and unique decorations.

It is a pagoda of the Oai No village community and has great geographical and historical value. The pagoda is a landmark recording the existence of an ancient village and the urban development of Hanoi. As a religious complex worshipping Buddha, it is a place that preserves and witnesses the local people's devotion to Buddhism, and is the center of cultural and spiritual activities of the village community. With its historical and artistic values (Khanh Son Tu), it has been ranked as a City-level historical and cultural relic under Decision No. 4272/QDUB/1999 and Decision No. 589/QD-UB dated January 26, 2006.