Thien Co Temple

The temple worships four titled princes of the Tran dynasty: Thien Tu Dai Vuong Tran Lieu, Royal Consort Lady La Thi Thai, Chieu Minh Dai Vuong Tran Quang Khai, and Tri Dung Uy Minh Dai Vuong Tran Quoc Thanh. They were all nobles of the Tran era who made great contributions to consolidating, building, and defending the Dai Viet nation during the resistance war against the Nguyen-Mong army in the 13th century.

With their great merits, they were granted estates and manors by King Tran in the land of Tho Lao - Chu Tran today. When they passed away, to remember their great contributions, the people built a temple in the hope of their divine protection. By the 20th century, the temple was an important revolutionary base in the two resistance wars against the French colonialists and the American imperialist invaders.

Based on historical documents and the dates of ancient artifacts, Thien Co Temple was built around the late 14th and early 15th centuries. The temple underwent major repairs under the Later Le and Mac dynasties. In the 20th century, it was repaired in 1942, 1986, and 1993, so it is now quite solid. Architecturally, Thien Co Temple is built in the shape of the character "cong" (工), including the Great Hall, the connecting corridor, and the Rear Sanctuary.

Thien Co Temple has quite exquisite carving art with themes of the four sacred creatures: dragon, unicorn, tortoise, and phoenix; and the four seasons: pine, bamboo, chrysanthemum, and apricot. Among these, dragon imagery is richly depicted, such as a dragon holding a pearl, a dragon worshipping the moon, a dragon spraying water, and a winding dragon, bearing the distinctive style of the late 16th to early 17th century Later Le period. In particular, Thien Co Temple still preserves a number of precious antiquities, such as four intricately carved worship thrones, a bat cong palanquin, altars, tortoise-shaped trays, a stone stele engraved in the 24th year of Canh Hung (1763), stone incense burners, a bronze bell, and a Han-character genealogy written under the Hong Phuc reign year (1572) compiled by Nguyen Binh, along with 10 royal edicts conferring titles on the four great kings worshipped: Tran Lieu, La Thi Thai, Tran Quang Khai, and Tran Quoc Thanh. These artifacts are all brightly lacquered and gilded, making the temple more ancient and solemn. With its stature and great significance carrying many historical and distinctive artistic values, Thien Co Temple has long deserved to be a place for research and sightseeing, contributing to traditional education for all classes of the people.

Thien Co Temple was classified as an architectural and artistic relic by the Ministry of Culture and Information in 1995./.