Hai Ba Trung Shrine

Hai Ba Trung Shrine (also called Hai Ba Shrine) is located at 680 Bach Dang Street, Hong Ha Ward, Hanoi City. Local people also call it Dong Nhan Shrine after the local administrative place name. The shrine worships Trung Trac and Trung Nhi as village tutelary deities.
According to folk legend, after fierce fighting with the Han army, the two ladies finally jumped into the Hat Giang River and took their own lives; their bodies turned into two stone statues that floated down the Nhi River. These were two large, glowing statues, wearing helmets and armor, with both hands pointing upward, one knee kneeling and the other leg extended. The two statues floated on the water and stopped at the riverbank of Dong Nhan Village, drifting ashore. According to the book Viet Su Luoc, in the first month of the 21st Canh Thin year (1160), Dong Nhan villagers built a temple to the two ladies right beside the riverbank. The court granted the shrine two black-painted wooden elephants with real tusks to worship the two ladies.
By 1819, when the Dong Nhan bank eroded, Dong Nhan villagers were allowed by the court to move the Hai Ba Temple to Huong Vien Village; some people continued to live here and rebuilt the shrine to commemorate the two ladies.
To date, the shrine has been renovated many times; the main shrine was renovated in 1998. The shrine has a small architectural scale and a 'ding' character layout, including a three-entrance gate, main worship hall, rear sanctuary and two side corridors. The decorative themes of the three-entrance gate bear characteristics of the Nguyen Dynasty; in the middle of the gate are embossed four Chinese characters 'Hung Liet Tinh Linh', meaning 'Heroic and majestic sacred souls'.
Currently, the shrine still preserves typical ritual objects such as an incense table, dragon throne, spirit tablets, dragon palanquin set, worship platform, eight treasures, bronze candle trees, stone incense bowls and more, bearing Nguyen Dynasty style; one royal edict from the first year of Chinh Hoa (1680) and some couplets on the walls of the relic.
Annually, on the 5th day of the 2nd lunar month, the people of Dong Nhan bank and the people of Dong Nhan in the street together hold a worship ceremony for the Trung Sisters. The traditional water procession festival is held very solemnly. People carry the palanquin from Dong Nhan Temple to Hai Ba Trung Shrine in the morning, stop the palanquin at the shrine, take a pair of jars down to the dragon boat and row to the middle of the Red River to fetch water. After the ceremony at Hai Ba Trung Shrine, in the afternoon they carry the water back to Dong Nhan Temple for the Moc Duc ceremony (statue bathing ceremony).
Although Hai Ba Trung Shrine is small, together with the main temple it has always been respected and worshipped by the people, who are grateful to those with contributions in the nation's history. Hai Ba Trung Shrine was ranked as a National Historical and Artistic Architectural Relic on 5/2/1994.