Thang Tri Temple National Monument

The temple is called Thang Tri Temple after the name of the former hamlet (now part of Lien Thang Hamlet, Kim Anh Commune, Hanoi City). The locality has changed its name many times:

In ancient times, Thang Tri was Thanh Hoa Village, later changed to Thanh Uyen, and even earlier Ke Oi or Boi, a land inhabited since the earliest days of nation-building. Under feudalism, the locality changed its name and administrative boundaries many times. In the Ly, Tran, and early Le dynasties it belonged to the Thai Nguyen route; at the end of the Le it was part of Thai Nguyen Garrison. Under Tu Duc it was transferred to Son Tay Garrison, then back to Thai Nguyen Garrison. In the early 20th century it belonged to Thai Nguyen Province. Under Khai Dinh, Thang Tri belonged to Phuc Yen (Hay An) Province, Kim Anh District. Before the August Revolution of 1945, Thang Tri was a commune in Thanh Tri Canton, Kim Anh District, Phuc Yen Province. In 1950, Phuc Yen merged with Vinh Yen to form Vinh Phuc Province. In 1968, Vinh Phuc merged with Da Phuc to form a new district named Soc Son (under Vinh Phu). In 1978, Soc Son belonged to Hanoi. In July 2025, Thang Tri Hamlet belonged to Kim Anh Commune, Hanoi City. In June 2026, the two hamlets of Thang Tri and Thang Huu were merged and renamed Lien Thang Hamlet.

The temple is located in the middle of Lien Thang Hamlet; to the east it borders Cau Doc Lake, to the west Lap Tri Hamlet, to the south My Ninh, and to the north Thanh Tri and Phu Ha Hamlets.

Thang Tri is more than 2 km from National Highway 2 at km 12 counted from Phu Lo, quite close to Phuc Yen and Xuan Hoa.

From Hanoi, take National Highway 1 across Chuong Duong or Long Bien Bridge, then cross Duong Bridge to National Highway 3 to Phu Lo, and then take National Highway 2. Alternatively, go via Thang Long Bridge to National Highway 3 in Dong Anh Town and follow the above route. If going via Thang Long Bridge and then National Highway 23 through Phuc Yen Town, take National Highway 2 to Trung Hamlet (in Thanh Xuan Commune), turn onto the dirt road through Co Bai Hamlet, cross the Cau Doc spillway, and pass My Ninh Hamlet to reach Thang Tri Temple. The road to Thang Tri Temple is wide and convenient for road vehicles.

Since its construction, Thang Tri Temple has worshipped Cao Son and Quy Minh, two generals from the Hung Vuong era. Based on the village's divine genealogy compiled in the third year of Hong Phuc and copied in the sixth year of Vinh Huu, the merits of the two village tutelary deities can be summarized as follows:

In the Hung Vuong era, there were a couple, Sung Cong Hoang and Le Thi Tuc, who practiced medicine and healed people, maintained virtue, cultivated benevolence, and did good deeds to help others. They often traveled to places to treat illnesses. Arriving at Thanh Hoa Village, Ke Oi, they sheltered from wind and rain at a shrine to the earth god, commonly called Ninh Ninh Mountain God, and were told in a dream that a virtuous person would be reincarnated. From then on, she became pregnant and gave birth to a bundle containing two sons on the 14th day of the first lunar month. The twin brothers were named Cao Son and Quy Minh and were cared for and sent to school by their parents. At 15, the brothers were stronger and more talented than others. When they were 18, their parents both died; the brothers buried them and observed mourning. At that time, Hung Due Vuong was seeking talented people to help the country; hearing of the two talented men, he invited them to court. Seeing that the brothers were accomplished in both letters and martial arts, the king was pleased and appointed them Left and Right Generals.

At that time, Due Vuong was old and weak and had no son to succeed him, and war broke out with Thuc Phan. Left and Right Generals Cao Son and Quy Minh were sent to guard the capital citadel and later led troops to battle. They stationed troops in the Thanh Hoa area, guarding the northern side of the capital. The brothers had Thanh Hoa built into a garrison area, held ceremonies invoking the assistance of deities, and recruited more soldiers. Thanks to spiritual assistance in battle, they won a great victory at the foot of Soc Son Mountain; the enemy was utterly defeated and fled. Returning victorious, they rewarded the soldiers, held a victory feast, and renamed the village Thang Tri in commemoration. They also repaired the shrine of the deity who had given spiritual assistance.

Back at court, the brothers were rewarded with titles by the king and were allowed to return to station troops at Thang Tri. They asked and received the king's permission to take Thang Tri as a reward for later worship. When the brothers returned to Thang Tri, they built a royal residence as their dwelling and garrison. When the work was done, they held a feast to reward the troops and the people. After the feast, a golden cloud suddenly descended, and the two ascended with the cloud to Thang Long Citadel and disappeared. The people were terrified, sent a petition to the court, and the king issued an edict allowing the people to perform sacrifices, repair the shrine, and worship the two men.

The king conferred on them the titles: First Holy Cao Son, Second Quy Minh with manifest responses, and Third Cao Son Uy Ninh, the local mountain god. Cao Son and Quy Minh are worshipped by the people as the village's saints; when the communal house was built, they were also worshipped as village tutelary deities. Many later kings also issued edicts to them.

Thang Tri Hamlet also has a temple popularly called Mother Temple, dedicated to Princess Nga Hoang, who was spiritually efficacious in helping the Trung Sisters. Previously this temple stood separately, but after it was damaged, the village moved it to the current temple area. According to the recorded legend, she was descended from a princess, daughter of the Hung King, named Nga Hoang. When the Trung Sisters rose up to fight the enemy and passed through this area, they stationed troops at Thang Tri. While sleeping, Trung was told in a dream that she would receive assistance; upon waking, a fairy indeed descended and identified herself as the heavenly fairy Princess Nga Hoang. In that battle, thanks to the princess's help, Trung won a great victory; when she became king, remembering the princess's merit, she issued an edict recording it and had the people of Thang Tri build a shrine for worship. In the Tran dynasty, when fighting the Yuan army, National Duke and Commander Tran Quoc Tuan also received spiritual assistance for victory. Later kings also issued edicts to her.

Every year the village holds a large festival to commemorate the tutelary deities at the temple area. During the resistance period, there were also several notable historical events:

Before the 1945 uprising, the temple was a meeting and rally place for Viet Minh organizations and for training cadres and the masses.

During the nationwide resistance, Hanoi Hospital was evacuated to the temple site. At the end of 1949, the hospital moved away.

The High Court also worked here for a time.

In 1950 the enemy exerted strong pressure and established a white belt. In May 1952 they set up posts and occupied Thang Tri Temple. The people struggled to protect and hide the ritual objects and offerings and moved them to the village shrine.

During the years of resistance against the US imperialists, the temple area was an evacuation site for many agencies: depots for military equipment, uniforms, and supplies, aircraft of Noi Bai Airport, the Eastern Design Department of Kim Anh, a bicycle factory, the General Depot of the Ministry of Mechanical Engineering and Metallurgy, the medicine depot of the Military Medical Department, and others.

In 1969, comrades Vo Nguyen Giap and Hoang Van Thai, while inspecting the front, came to work at the temple.

          IV. Type of monument:

          Thang Tri Temple is a memorial architecture. It is a place to remember and record the merits of the heroic forebears of the local people. In addition, the temple marks historical events from the end of the Hung Vuong era and the Trung Sisters' uprising. Considering its type alone, the temple can be classified as a historical-artistic relic.

          V. Description of the monument:

          The temple is located on a high hill in the middle of the village, separated from the surrounding residential area. Its architecture is that of a village guard house that was repaired and reused.

The main temple faces southeast and has an I-shaped ground plan and other architectural structures. It is a village pagoda worshipping Buddha and a Mother Temple. The temple consists of three connected parts: the Grand Sacrifice Hall, the Giai Muong Hall, and the Rear Sanctuary.

The Grand Sacrifice Hall has seven narrow bays, with narrow central bays built in a gable-end style with sealed gables, ceremonial pillars, and armrests. The floor is brick-paved to a moderate height with two steps; the roof is covered with di tiles. There are eight roof trusses and sixteen main columns. The columns rest on blue stone plinths sunk into the floor. The trusses are simply designed: stacked beams with bearing blocks, connecting tie beams over the main beams resting on columns, front tie beams and rear cantilevers, and the two end trusses are made as slipping trusses. The five middle bays are not walled, while the two end bays have brick walls; the front windows are fitted in seal-script patterns, the rear is left open, and each gable end has a door in the middle. The central bay is closed with wooden panels forming a forbidden door, with three door frames: the middle one spans the full column bay, the two side doors are on either side, the central door is made of folding wooden panels, and the two sides are casement doors.

The Giai Muong Hall connects to the Grand Sacrifice Hall and the Rear Sanctuary at the central bay; it has two bays and two roof trusses, while the other two trusses are shared with the Grand Sacrifice Hall and the Rear Sanctuary. The trusses are made in the upper slipping-truss style, with beams on both sides resting on bearing blocks to receive the purlins and pressing the side beams against the wall.

The Rear Sanctuary has sealed gable ends, ceremonial pillars, and projecting armrests; it has two narrow side bays with four roof trusses. Its structure uses a slipping-truss type with a central post, and an auxiliary column forms the main altar, which is floored with planks in tiers; in the two side bays, two altars are built against the rear wall, forming altars for the generals under their command.

Outside there are brick ceremonial pillars coated with mortar in front of the Grand Sacrifice Hall and Rear Sanctuary. The two front pillars are decorated with phoenixes curling around lotus buds; below the niches are the four sacred creatures: dragon, ly, turtle, and phoenix, with elephant figures. The two rear pillars are decorated in the qua gianh style, with ly creatures facing each other.

The architecture is mainly plain and closely joined, with some stylized decorative motifs of chrysanthemum vines and orchid vines, interwoven with seal-script patterns on the bodies of the roof trusses. Notable decoration is found mostly on the ritual objects and artifacts of the temple, described in the following section.

          VI. Inventory of artifacts:

          Thang Tri Temple has a large volume of relics and artifacts of value in many respects:

- The temple's divine genealogy was written in the third year of Hong Duc and copied in the sixth year of Vinh Huu, recording the merits of Cao Son, Quy Minh, and Princess Nga Hoang.

A book of abridged copies of conferment edicts, with the edicts copied briefly with the reign titles, dates, and months of the kings’ conferments and some honorific titles.

Eight pairs of wooden parallel couplets, red-lacquered and gilded, 19th–20th-century art.

A wooden incense table, red-lacquered and gilded, made in the 19th century. The front and two sides have many decorative motifs with carved panels. At the top is a carved canopy border with dragons at the four lower corners, and a wave-foot line runs around it. The front has motifs of dragon heads, tiger tallies, and the four sacred creatures in the panels, each panel different: either the whole four sacred creatures or each type separately; one panel depicts aged bamboo transforming into a dragon, tiger tally, etc.; traditional themes include dragons playing with clouds, curling water, phoenix holding a book in its beak, and turtle carrying a seal. Covering the two legs are images of the four sacred creatures, dragons curling water combined with carp transforming into a dragon, lotus ponds, interwoven with four sacred creatures. The lower border is carved in a stylized manner depicting the four noble plants: pine, chrysanthemum, bamboo, and plum.

On the two sides of the incense table, the motifs are nearly symmetrical, depicting dragon heads and tiger tallies holding seals, combined with chrysanthemum vines and seal-script motifs. The carvings of the four sacred creatures and four noble plants are interwoven with carvings of lotus ponds, carp, chrysanthemum vines, and creeping plants. The carvings on the incense table are mainly openwork, raised relief, and pierced carving, gilded on a red-lacquered background.

The temple has four palanquin sets: three eight-pole palanquins and one four-pole palanquin. The palanquins are made of wood, red-lacquered and gilded. One set dates earlier, to the late Lê period, while three date to the Nguyễn period in the 19th century. Decoration is concentrated at the head and tail of the palanquins as dragon heads and tails.

In addition, there are carved panels attached to the borders, supports, and palanquin boards. The dragons on the Nguyễn-period palanquins are robust and fierce, with lion noses, bulging eyes, upright manes, and long whiskers. The dragons carved on the late Lê palanquin resemble those of earlier periods; the carving is rough and not carefully finished, but there are beautiful, elaborate carved panels on the palanquin boards: with themes of the four sacred creatures and dragons attending, but the expression on each board is different. The hand-carved panels are lively and graceful, giving the boards both similarities and vivid distinctiveness.

The ritual washing-water stand, used to hold water during ceremonies, is made of wood, red-lacquered and gilded, 19th-century art. It focuses on depicting an aged bamboo transforming into a dragon with exquisite, elaborate carving, harmonious between realism and stylization. In addition, it details interwoven four sacred creatures; this is an artifact of high artistic value.

The memorial tablets consist of three long tablets called dragon tablets: two worship Cao Sơn and Quý Minh, and one worships Ninh Ninh mountain god, the local deity. The tablets have the same layout: with a border cut with flowers and leaves, the top is a moon, around it are embossed dragons attending and the four sacred creatures surrounding a raised wooden frame in the center. Of the three tablets, one dates earlier, while two were made in the 19th century, the Nguyễn period.

The Mother Temple has four statues: two original and two newly donated. The two old statues have very notable features: their symbolic size is average, like mother-temple statues in pagodas, representing Princess Nga Hoàng remembered with devotion by the villagers. The latter statue is larger, carved in a seated position 80 cm high, depicting a simple woman sitting flat, wearing peasant clothes, with the bodice neck exposed and bare feet. The smaller statue placed in front depicts a standing female general, represented as Lady Chúa going to battle or as a female general under her command. Through the way the statues are represented, the artisans closely tied them to the temple’s historical events, creating an artistic image of a peasant female general who fought for the country and protected the land. The two statues are made of wood, red-lacquered and gilded, 19th-century art.

There are eight ritual swords made of wood, red-lacquered and gilded.

There are four horizontal lacquered boards made of wood, red-lacquered and gilded.

The decorative weapons made in the 19th century include: 1 eight-snake spear, 8 eight-treasure objects, 3 command banners, and 3 maces.

The y môn consists of three wooden panels, red-lacquered and gilded, late 19th-century art, depicting the same image with embossed two dragons attending, interwoven with four noble plants and leaf-shaped motifs on a fretwork background.

The stone stele was made in the Duy Tân Ất Mão year (1915), plain, briefly recording the content, divine biography, festival days, and ritual regulations.

The bronze bell was cast in the Khải Định Kỷ Mùi year (1919); it records the temple’s Chinese-character name as 'Thanh Vân tự'; the bell has four knobs and no inscription poem.

The temple’s Nine Dragons statue is one statue; it is much damaged and is now the only remaining statue of the temple.

In addition, the temple has many other artifacts and worship objects such as a bronze tripod, lamp and candle stands, wooden cranes, bronze stands, canopies and fans, incense bowls, bronze trays, offering trays, etc.

          VII. Assessment of the relic’s values:

          1. Historical and notable-person value:

          The temple worships Cao Sơn and Quý Minh, two generals from the era of Hùng Vương’s founding of the country, whom many villages around Thắng Trí and elsewhere worship as tutelary gods. There are still many debated issues around Triệu Thục’s replacement role, but there is sufficient basis to affirm that the two saints Cao Sơn and Quý Minh are real historical figures who entered the people’s subconscious in many places.

Cao Sơn and Quý Minh were two generals who upheld loyalty to the king, patriotism, and protection of the nation’s peace. The two generals raised the determination to protect the territorial integrity of the tribes and clans living together, which has particular meaning in the early history of our country.

Through the relic’s documents, it contributes to the events of the late Hùng and early Thục periods, creating conditions to prove and understand the distant historical period of our nation.

The temple also worships Princess Nga Hoàng, who manifested to help the Hai Bà Trưng uprising drive out Tô Định’s troops. Nga Hoàng is a symbolic image of our people’s patriotism and hatred of invaders, a bright example for life. Through the divine biography about Nga Hoàng, valuable documents about the history of the Hai Bà Trưng period are also shown.

          2. Artistic, cultural, and scenic value:

          The temple has a large quantity of relic documents, with quality and value in many aspects. The artifacts and worship objects such as the palanquin sets, incense table, and ritual washing-water stand are beautiful artworks showing the skillful carving art of old artisans. With a cultural identity that is both traditional and local, the carvings are works of high aesthetic value, contributing to our nation’s cultural treasury. The temple is located next to the village in a densely populated area, where worship of saints and Buddha and communal meetings take place twice a month. Here ritual customs and the beauty of folk culture have taken place. The large festivals at the temple, attended by many people, are a great source of spiritual encouragement after hard and tiring days of labor.

Village festivals also include healthy and joyful games; they are places of cultural exchange that contribute to beautifying the village landscape and strengthening solidarity and the awareness of mutual affection and assistance. Thắng Trí Temple is located quite close to Nội Bài International Airport, Đại Lải Lake, and the Sóc Sơn relic area, and on a high, open, spacious hill, favorable conditions for building and embellishing it into a place for recreation, rest, visiting, and tourism. The temple’s tree-covered hill, if well cultivated and planned, will create a beautiful landscape with scenic value.

VIII. Thắng Trí Temple Festival

Time: On 15th day of the first lunar month annually.

Location: Thắng Trí Temple, Thắng Trí village, Minh Trí commune, Sóc Sơn district, Hà Nội.

Deities worshipped: Cao Sơn, Quý Minh, and Princess Ngọc Hoa – deities credited with service to the country and protection of the people.

Main activities:

Ceremonial part: Solemn and reverent rituals offered to the benevolent deities, praying for national peace and prosperity, favorable weather, and bumper crops.

Festival part: Lively with traditional games rich in national identity such as free-style wrestling, human chess and cultural exchange activities.

Meaning: The festival is an occasion to preserve cultural heritage and express the moral principle "When drinking water, remember its source", honoring the martial spirit and strengthening local community solidarity.