Mau Luong Shrine

At the entrance of Mau Luong village there is an ancient shrine, commonly called Mau Luong Shrine. It worships three deities: Chang Vang Dai Vuong, Do Ho Dai Vuong, and Queen Linh Hien of the Le dynasty. According to legend, the two village tutelary gods Chang Vang Dai Vuong and Do Ho Dai Vuong were originally two immortal boys who reincarnated into a family in Hoan Chau land (the Nghe region); their parents died early, and the two brothers traveled to make a living, stopping first at the head of Ngo Xa commune, Thanh Oai district.

Later, the two continued their journey to Tan Vien Mountain, met Son Thanh, the greatest prodigy in the world, and were highly regarded by him. At that time, the country had long been at peace, and Son Thanh together with the two men continued to roam everywhere. When they returned to Mau Luong, the two asked to stay to visit and care for the local people and teach them rice cultivation and silkworm raising. When the Shu army invaded the country, the two were granted titles and went to battle to help King Hung fight the enemy. After victory, they again asked to return to their old village, and later they passed away together with Son Thanh. The people of Mau Luong prepared a petition to the king. The king sent envoys to perform ceremonies and conferred on them the title 'Supreme Blessed Deity', again issuing divine titles and permitting the people of Mau Luong to build a shrine for worship and eternal incense. Later dynasties all granted divine titles.

The shrine still preserves many precious objects such as: a bat cong palanquin, writing desks, altar tables, dragon thrones and spirit tablets, horizontal plaques, couplets… bearing cultural features of the Le era; a rectangular altar table decorated with tiger symbols, two dragons flanking the moon, the character 'longevity'… strongly bearing the artistic style of the Le era.

From the outside into Mau Luong Shrine, there are the Nghi Mon gate, Ta Huu corridors, Dai Bai main worship hall, and Hau Cung rear sanctuary. The shrine gate was built with two pillars more than 8 m high and a gate with curved dao-shaped roofs. The Dai Bai has three bays, roofed with thin nose tiles, brick walls, closed gable ends; the throne arms and roof trusses of the Dai Bai and Hau Cung are all made in the style of front ke, rear bay, combined with giong gia and con nhi, smooth planed and tightly joined, decorated with some simple patterns such as seal-script characters and raised moldings… The shrine is built on beautiful land, and together with green bamboo hedges, rivers, and lakes… it makes the relic site even more beautiful.

Mau Luong village shrine is a national-level historical relic, ranked in 1988 by the Ministry of Culture (now under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism).