Tu Chi Shrine of Van Quang Village

- Tu Chi Shrine of Van Quang Village was ranked at City level under Decision No. 3480/QD-UBND dated August 7, 2020 of the Hanoi City People's Committee
Relic. Tu Chi Shrine of Van Quang Village is part of the complex of Hung Phuc Pagoda and Tu Chi Shrine of Van Quang Village. According to records in the book Historical, Cultural and Revolutionary Relics of Van Quang Village, before August 1945, Tu Chi had spacious, dignified and beautiful grounds located on high land in the middle of Buong hamlet, facing southeast. From the district road, entering through the gate to the courtyard, there was a surrounding wall built of laterite. Next was the front hall, which, besides worship, was also a place for teaching. Separating the front hall and the rear sanctuary was a 2m-wide ceremonial yard. Implementing the policy of scorched-earth resistance against the French, the front hall was demolished in December 1946, leaving only the rear sanctuary, which survives today.
Today's Tu Chi (formerly the rear sanctuary) consists of 03 compartments and 02 lean-tos, built in the style of closed gable walls, roofed with traditional tiles, the ridge capped with cow tiles, walls built of brick, with 3 doorways made in the folding-door style. The frame of Tu Chi is created by 04 trusses, made uniformly in the style of 'upper stacked beams and giam braces, lower giam braces and stacked beams'. The truss and column system is made of wood. The hidden columns are made of stone. At Tu Chi, the most valuable feature is the architectural decoration. At the ends of the beams and the ends of the purlins, there are relief carvings of the four sacred creatures, four precious plants, leaves, etc., bearing the artistic style of the Nguyen period. These architectural decorations need to be regularly preserved and maintained.
Tu Chi has dimensions to maintain its architectural scale, including: length 9.9m, width 6.5m. The spacing of the bay steps is 2.5m wide. The two lean-tos are 1.2m wide.

Tu Chi Shrine of Van Quang Village currently worships the Two-Country First Laureate Nguyen Truc. Evaluating this figure, the scholar Than Nhan Trung wrote: 'Founding First Laureate, literature glorified in the country, famous in one era. In every reign he was trusted with affairs, held literary duties at the academies, was a modest man, complete from beginning to end.' Only through these remarks by the scholar Than Nhan Trung can later generations partly understand the character of Nguyen Truc. Nguyen Truc was the first person to open the title of Khoi Nguyen of Vietnam, with literature shining in his time. Mentioning his name, people think of a place where the knowledge of the cultural, literary and scholarly eras gathered in the Han Lam Academy. Although the nation's history has passed through ups and downs, the name and career of the Two-Country First Laureate Nguyen Truc remain a brilliant red mark in the thousand-year history of the nation, bringing honor to the thousand-year civilized land of Thang Long.

Through many vicissitudes of history, the Tu Chi Shrine of Van Quang Village that exists today is the connecting thread that binds the people in solidarity, helping one another overcome difficulties. Tu Chi Shrine of Van Quang Village is one of the religious and belief architectural works; the relic is a place that meets the needs of spiritual and cultural activities, a place to educate and promote the fine cultural traditions of the nation for future generations. On Buddhist holidays, Tet, village festivals, and the death anniversary of the Two-Country First Laureate Nguyen Truc, people come here to perform ceremonies, orient themselves toward goodness, preserve local customs and practices, and join hands in building fine traditions.