Sẻ Pagoda Relic Site (Diên Phúc Temple), Hát Môn Commune

SẺ PAGODA - MUNICIPAL-LEVEL RELIC

Sẻ Pagoda is one of the earliest cultural and religious structures to appear in Hạ Hiệp in particular and in the Hiệp villages in general. The father of Saint Hoàng Đạo was from Nghệ An and came to serve as a temple attendant at Diên Phúc Pagoda (Sẻ Pagoda - Hạ Hiệp); because he was childless, he went to pray for a child at Thầy Pagoda - Sài Sơn.

His mother dreamed of a golden cloud and conceived him through this omen. He was intelligent, talented, and had greater ambition than others. When the Han invaders swept in, responding to the call to raise the banner of righteousness at Hát Giang by the Hai Bà Trưng, he gathered local troops to support them, contributing to driving out the invaders and reclaiming the homeland.

The Han court sent Mã Viện with troops to suppress them; the Hai Bà fought stubbornly, and when their strength was exhausted, they sacrificed their lives at the Hát Giang estuary. Hoàng Đạo led the local troops back to their homeland, and he passed away in the mulberry field area - which is now Hạ Hiệp Quán.

Remembering his merits, the people built temples and shrines to worship him. Hạ Hiệp Quán and Hạ Hiệp Communal House are the main places of worship; many feudal dynasties issued edicts praising his achievement of “protecting the country and serving the nation.”

Thus, it can be affirmed that Sẻ Pagoda dates back about 2,000 years of history.

Sẻ Pagoda is not only a historical and cultural relic. During the resistance war against the Americans, it was a facility of the Intermediate Military Ordnance School under the General Department of Technical Services, Ministry of National Defense. The pagoda is a place of spiritual refuge and cultivation of compassion and love for the homeland and country among local people, contributing to building and preserving the nation's traditional cultural values.