Lai Yen Stone Mausoleum (Cay Gao Mausoleum)

Hien Linh Stone Mausoleum (Cay Gao Stone Mausoleum)

The stone mausoleum in Gao hamlet, whose Sino-Vietnamese name is Hien Linh Tu, is located in Lai Yen 1 hamlet, Son Dong commune, Hanoi city.

The mausoleum gate was built from stone slabs assembled together. The gate roof imitates the roof of a communal house or pagoda, with ridges and edges made from carefully, elaborately and meticulously chiseled laterite blocks. On the gate’s forehead is a large stone slab forming a panel that functions like a horizontal plaque, bearing the inscription “Hien Linh Tu” and simple decorative patterns.

Passing through the gate is the worship area. In the center of the longitudinal sacred path is a monolithic square stone altar carved with patterns (clouds, waves, and dragons flanking the character for longevity), and a shrine adjoining the tomb. The entire worship area is paved with blue stone according to the rule that the side slabs are laid vertically while the central slabs are laid horizontally.

On the four sides are very beautiful corner ornaments in the form of leaf-transformed dragons. The columns and walls of the shrine are assembled from three thick, monolithic blue stone slabs.

At the center of the tomb area is the tomb of Quan Cong Pham Don Nghi, made of a large stone slab, with a rectangular base and an upper part curved like a basin rim; the top is carved in relief with “Tuong Cong Mo” and is now covered with red flowers. The entire mausoleum area is protected by a relatively high-capped laterite wall. No document clearly records the year of his death; the clan and villagers hold a memorial day on the 30th day of the 5th lunar month every year.

On the two main columns of the two stele houses are a couplet and two bas-reliefs in the artistic style of the 18th century. The stele house on the left has a rectangular box-shaped stele dated to the 3rd year of Long Duc (1734).

The yard of the Tien Te house is 4.91 m wide and 11.4 m long, paved with Bat Trang bricks. Around the yard is a high brick row serving as a curb, with small pillars at the corners. At the end of the yard is a three-bay, two-wing house rebuilt on the old foundation of the former five-bay Tien Te house.

According to tradition, Pham Don Nghi was the second child in a family of six siblings, including four boys and two girls, born in the hour of Nham Tuat, Quy Suu, on the 15th day, Binh Dan month of the first lunar month, Giap Tuat year (1694), and changed to his mother’s surname. Pham Don Nghi Stone Mausoleum was ranked as a National Monument in 1964.