Temple of Doctor Chu Doãn Mại

The Temple of Doctor Chu Doãn Mại is located on land in the residential center of Phúc Hậu village, Dục Tú commune, intermingled with the houses of local households. Viewed from outside across a narrow courtyard paved with Bát Tràng bricks is the outer shrine, built in a lean-to style with 3 bays and a simple structure. Two pillars support the roof brackets; on both sides are low walls, above which are stacked bars forming windows. The roof is covered with local tiles, the floor is paved with Bát Tràng bricks, and it is built in the closed-gable style with ngai handrails and ornamental pillars. The ornamental pillars are simply built of brick, with lantern cells on top, and couplets written on the pillar bodies. “Chuôi giuộc” has 3 bays built in the closed-gable style, roofed with local tiles, and floored with Bát Tràng bricks running lengthwise. The trusses are made in the style of “upper chiêng frame, stacked secondary beams, lower kẻ, seven wall corbels”. On the trusses, the beam bodies are decorated with motifs of flipped leaves, chrysanthemums, stylized lotus flowers, raised edges, and line borders... Inside the inner shrine of the temple is a spacious altar with worship objects lacquered and gilded. Outside is a splendidly lacquered and gilded front altar, made of wood dating to about the 19th century; this is a finely crafted product decorated with stylized lime flowers, dragons, water waves, lake surfaces... in an exquisite manner. Inside against the wall is the solemn area, built with a brick platform holding 4 altars and tablets bearing the names of the ancestors and members of the Chu clan, including Doctor Chu Doãn Mại and Chu Doãn Trí.

These are 4 altars in 19th-century artistic style, lacquered and gilded with floral vine motifs and lines on the altar doors. The system of horizontal plaques and couplets in the temple was all created in the 19th century, with content praising the traditional ancestors of the Chu Tiến clan. For example, in the front ritual bay there is 1 horizontal plaque with the content: “Túc Khai nhiên”, meaning: Reverently commemorate (the ancestors) and “Khai nghiệp truyền thế”, meaning: Establish the (learning) enterprise and pass it down forever to later generations. On the western gable wall there is a rubbing of the doctoral stele recorded at the Temple of Literature (Quốc Tử Giám), from the Mậu Tuất examination, under King Lê Hiển Tông, Cảnh Hưng era, 39th year, 1778. It records: “Chu Doãn Mại passed the Third Class Doctorate, a native of Dục Tú commune, Đông Ngàn district”. Especially among the relics, noteworthy is the appointment certificate for Mr. Chu Doãn Mại issued in 1772, carefully preserved in the temple, with the content appointing Chu Khắc Lệ to the position of Thí sai Tướng sĩ lang, Nho học huấn đạo of Ứng Thiên prefecture. This is the only Hậu Lê-era appointment certificate of Đông Anh district that remains preserved, an extremely valuable document for researching the nation's history.