Lady Chua Temple

Lady Chua Temple in Linh Nam Ward is one of the typical relics, closely associated with the tradition of nation building and defense and the cultural and spiritual life of the people of Linh Nam Ward. Currently, the relic is being decorated with ceremonial ornaments, lamps, and flowers to prepare for the ceremony to receive the City-level Historical-Cultural Relic Ranking Certificate, recognizing its outstanding historical, cultural, and religious values.

“Lady Chua Temple” is a place of worship for the Lady of the Western Palace, Principal Consort Linh Phu Duc Bao Trung Hung Ton Than Princess, whose personal name was Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tu – the second daughter of Emperor Gia Du, personal name Nguyen Hoang. In 1600, when the Emperor returned to Thuan Hoa, he married the Lady to Thanh Do Vuong Trinh Trang, son of Lord Trinh Tung and grandson of Prince Trinh Kiem. Lady Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tu was the mother who gave birth to Duke Trinh Kieu and Queen Trinh Ngoc Truc.

Principal Consort Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tu, posthumous name Tu Thuan, was from Gia Mieu Ngoai Trang village (Tong Son district), granddaughter of Nguyen Kim and daughter of Duke Doan Quoc Nguyen Hoang. She gave birth to Sung Nghia Vuong Trinh Kieu. Her mausoleum is in Boi Duong commune (Tong Son district).

In her lifetime, when traveling by boat to visit the Linh Nam area, seeing the people suffering from hunger and hardship due to lack of farmland, the Lady used her own money to ask the Lord to let her embank the Red River and reclaim more than 200 mẫu of land to distribute to the people for farming and living. The Lady had a canal dug to bring Red River water for the people to cultivate, had a stone bridge built for people to travel, and built Nghiem Thang Tu Pagoda (Nam Du Thuong Pagoda, now Vinh Hung Ward) for the people to worship. She left great contributions to the construction and development of the country and helped the people improve and develop their lives later.

Over time, despite the ups and downs of history, Lady Chua Temple has still been preserved, restored, and has become a place of spiritual and religious practice for the people of Linh Nam Ward. The relic bears strong marks of traditional architecture with a solemn worship space, contributing to preserving the distinctive cultural values of the nation.

The ranking of Lady Chua Temple in Linh Nam Ward as a city-level Historical-Cultural Relic is a deserved recognition by all levels and sectors for the relic's outstanding values. This is also an important basis for the locality to continue promoting the conservation, restoration, and promotion of cultural heritage values, linked with socio-economic development and building cultural life at the grassroots level.

In recent times, under the close leadership and direction of the Party Committee, People's Council, People's Committee, and Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Linh Nam Ward, the management, conservation, and promotion of the relic's values have always received attention and emphasis. At the same time, Linh Nam Ward has actively coordinated with specialized agencies to complete the dossier and prepare necessary conditions to organize the ceremony to receive the relic ranking certificate in a solemn, practical, and compliant manner.

Receiving the ranking certificate is not only a pride of the Party Committee, government, and people of Linh Nam Ward, but also an important motivation to continue preserving and promoting the relic's values, contributing to building Linh Nam Ward to become increasingly wealthy, civilized, and modern, worthy of the cultural and civilized tradition of Hanoi Capital.