Lai Da Shrine

Lai Da Shrine is located in Lai Da village, Dong Hoi commune before the merger, now Dong Anh commune, Hanoi City. Lai Da Shrine worships Holy Mother Tien Dung, a heavenly deity who spiritually assisted top doctoral laureate Nguyen Hien in fighting Champa and was conferred the title of Phuc Than by the Tran dynasty; the legend is still preserved at Hung Temple, Lam Thao, Phu Tho. Legend has it that the shrine was built around after 1276, originally small and narrow, and was expanded in the 10th year of Khai Dinh. The shrine, also called a temple, lies to the west and immediately next to the village communal house. The shrine has a layout in the form of the character “nhị” including two structures, each with three bays, closed gable walls, roof-frame structure in the style of giá chiêng combined with vì kèo, mainly smooth-planed and tightly joined. Inside there is a wooden niche made in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the double-niche style. On the altar are two carefully made brown Tho Ha ceramic incense bowls, with raised relief of the four sacred creatures placed symmetrically on both sides, and one worship niche inscribed with four characters “Thanh Cung Van Tue”, two couplets placed on either side read: “The people rejoice in prosperity and longevity” and “The nation’s fortune returns to prosperity”. Lai Da Shrine also preserves many valuable artifacts contemporaneous with those at Lai Da communal house, such as worship niches, 01 stone elephant statue, and 01 stone nghê statue. These two statues bear the Le dynasty (15th–16th centuries) stone-carving art style. Annually, on the 11th day of the third lunar month, the female officials’ team performs an incense-offering ceremony at the shrine. The communal house, pagoda, and shrine of Lai Da form a valuable complex of architectural and artistic relics, located within the overall densely populated village grounds with ancient trees, village roads paved with slant-laid edge bricks, village gates, shrines, nghè, văn chỉ... With historical, cultural, and architectural-artistic values, the complex of Lai Da communal house, pagoda, and shrine was ranked as a National Relic under Decision No. 1570/VH/QĐ/1989 dated September 5, 1989.