Lưu Ly Temple

LƯU LY TEMPLE

Lưu Ly Temple is located in Quyết Tiến village, Sơn Đồng commune, Hà Nội, a land endowed by nature with many favorable natural and human factors. Its position is regarded as “backing the mountain and facing the water” – with its head resting against Bạch Tuyết Mountain and its feet sloping down toward the Đáy River. Amid this charming feng shui landscape, Lưu Ly Temple appears majestic and beautiful, like a precious jade cup of creation; perhaps it is precisely because of this profound motif that the temple is named Lưu Ly.

This place preserves many unique legends and anecdotes about national heroes in history. Among them, mention must be made of the story of General Lý Phục Man and the elephant-bathing sandbank from the Early Lý period; especially the story of the Four Immortals in Vietnamese folk cultural beliefs. All the stories praise the spirit of effort, overcoming difficulties of circumstance and challenge, defeating evil, and directing people toward good humanistic values. The birth and development of Lưu Ly Temple are evidence and a synthesis symbol of these fine cultural and spiritual values.

Besides its historical value, Lưu Ly Temple also contains many unique cultural values, notably the architectural construction and the arrangement of worship spaces according to the elements of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity. The three tiers of the temple fully honor the spirit lords in Vietnamese worship culture and beliefs. The upper tier worships Buddha and the Four Palaces Council with lacquered and gilded wooden statues, and is also where Chầu Văn singing takes place. The middle tier worships the Earth Treasury Council in a serene space. The lower tier is the main sanctuary worshipping the Council of the Four Immortals, such as Lạc Long Quân, Âu Cơ, the Hùng Kings, Thánh Gióng, and Chử Đồng Tử, highlighted by a rare system of white sandstone statues.

The seated statues in the Temple are all made of high-value marble; the lacquered and gilded statues were created by carving artisans of the Vietnam Craft Village Association.

In addition, the Temple regularly organizes performance activities and surveys and research on Chầu Văn. It has repeatedly hosted Chầu Văn Ritual Festivals, contributing to refining the essence of Chầu Văn art while eliminating distortions of this ritual.

Lưu Ly Temple was ranked as a historical, architectural, and artistic relic by the Hanoi People's Committee in 2014.