Tien Nga Temple - the place to worship Lady Nam Phuong

The temple worships Princess Vu Quan Quyen Hoa, Princess Lieu Hanh and Prince Quan De Tam Hoang. Among the gods worshiped above, Princess Vu Quan Quyen Hoa is a special historical figure. She is a human deity, from Gia Vien village, An Duong district, Kinh Mon prefecture, ancient Hai Duong town. Gia Vien village, now is mostly the territory of May To ward, Ngo Quyen district, Hai Phong city. In the campaign to destroy 200,000 invading Southern Han troops on Bach Dang river in 938, commanded by national hero Ngo Quyen. Lady Vu Quan was a female general in charge of military supplies for Ngo Quyen.

There are not many historical records left about her, but the legends about her are very deep. She has become a saint in the people's consciousness, and people have built temples and shrines to worship and honor "Ba Chua Nam Phuong" or "Chua Ba Nam Phuong". Temples and shrines to worship her are called Chua temples, Chua temples. Along with the strong development of the mother worship belief, the indigenous beliefs of the Vietnamese people. Chua Ba Nam Phuong has become a special saint. Around Chua Ba, people have many spiritual stories, evoking many thoughts. Chua Ba has been observed by people in every move, change of position of the throne. In folk beliefs, people have formed and are forming the respect to put "Chua Ba Nam Phuong" in the position in the worship system of the four palaces.

Among the 378 historical and cultural relics ranked at the city level of Hai Phong, Tien Nga Temple is the main place to worship her and is also the only relic to worship a female general who was in charge of providing military provisions and logistics for the first major campaign of our nation, defeating the invaders on the Bach Dang River. Tien Nga Temple is the only place in the North of our country that marks the Duy Tan - Dong Du movement. A large patriotic and revolutionary ideological movement in the early 20th century, initiated and led by patriot Phan Boi Chau.

Tien Nga Temple means a temple to worship a very beautiful fairy. Tien Nga Temple used to belong to Gia Vien village, also known as Cam village in Nom, Gia Vien commune, An Duong district, Hai Duong province. There are no documents left about when Tien Nga Temple was built. At the end of the 19th century (1890), the French government built a Catholic church and a separate residential area for French families working at Hai Phong port. Therefore, Cam village had some land taken, including Tien Nga Temple, and the temple had to move to a new location (the current location). At the new location, from 1890 to 1925, the temple's construction works were completed. During this time, Tien Nga Temple belonged to Phuc Than ward, in 1925 it was changed to Tan Phuc ward. Tien Nga Temple was originally built with an architectural plan in the style of front and back, including three rear chambers which were also the forbidden palace, three middle chambers and three front and worship chambers. Since its construction, it has undergone many renovations and repairs. There was a time when the temple was used for other functions such as commerce and construction of state agencies. Only the architectural part of the flagpole built on the upper terrace is still relatively preserved to this day. Since 1999, the Tien Nga Temple Relic Management Board was established by May To Ward, all the restoration and embellishment work of the relic has been methodical and has tried to preserve the traditional architecture of the temple.

Tien Nga Temple faces the Northwest, overlooking the main street, at 53 Le Loi Street, May To Ward, Ngo Quyen District, Hai Phong City. From afar, people can see the temple's main gate. The main gate was built in 2005, in the traditional style. The main gate is deep, forming three doors: the main gate, the left gate and the right gate. The main gate has two roofs, the upper floor forms four roofs, including two long roofs and two short roofs. The roof is made of concrete, reinforced iron, in the style of a diagonal knife. The roof is covered with flat fish scale tiles. The ridge is decorated with double lemon flowers. The top of the ridge, in the middle, is decorated with a tiger holding a longevity symbol, carrying a moon face, on both sides of the ridge, are decorated with pliers holding the ridge, the ends of the pliers form curved circles like clouds, expressing the Vietnamese people's wish for favorable weather. The curved blades are decorated with dragon leaves, the crooked edges are decorated with guot leaves. The eaves are decorated with rows of Bodhi leaves. Between the two roofs is a co-roof, on both the front and back sides of the main gate form a large inscription, inside the inscription are embossed four large Chinese characters: "Tien Nga linh tu", meaning this is the sacred Tien Nga temple.

The Chinese characters are attached with colorful ceramic pieces, when the sunlight shines on them, it creates a shimmering, magical beauty. The lower roof is the same as the upper roof, including four roofs, two long roofs and two short roofs, with a diagonal structure of the corner, made of concrete, iron reinforcement and covered with fish scale tiles. The corner of the edge is decorated with dragons and phoenixes. The left and right gates are small in size, the architectural creations are similar, symmetrical to the main gate and have only one part of the roof on the outside, the rest is connected to the main gate pillars. The roofs of the left and right gates are also made in the diagonal style of the corner of the edge. The top of the ridge is decorated with seal script patterns of leaves, the crooked edges are decorated with guot leaves, the curved edges are decorated with dragon-shaped leaves. The flat roof is made of concrete, iron reinforcement, covered with flat, even fish scale tiles. The ridge is decorated with double lemon flowers. The eaves are decorated with Bodhi leaves following the regular curve of the roof. The pillars of the gate have the shape of a balloon at the base, and the embossed leaf patterns are on top. The top of the pillars is shaped like a three-level fighting cock, with the smaller ones at the bottom and gradually getting larger at the top. On the sides of the pillars, parallel sentences are framed, and the Chinese parallel sentences are embossed on the inside. In addition to the main decorative parts, the architecture of the Tien Nga temple's gate is also decorated with the themes of the four seasons and sacred flowers and leaves. Overall, the Tien Nga temple's gate is a solid architectural work with beautiful decorative art; the scale and size are in harmony with the overall space and architectural landscape of the relic site.

From the gate of Tien Nga temple, go down two steps to the temple yard. The yard is paved flat, all with traditional red terracotta bricks, but is large in size. Going through the yard to the front of the temple door outside, on the main road is a fake stone incense altar. The incense altar is surrounded by four legs, on the surrounding part, the front is embossed with dragons and water, the two sides are embossed with lotus flowers and carp, the back is embossed with scattered clouds. On the incense altar is a small wooden altar and a set of five objects; day and night, the lights and incense shine, the incense of worship never goes out. On both sides of the incense altar, in front of the temple door, there are two unicorns standing in attendance looking out into the yard, the posture of guarding the holy gate, illuminating the minds of those who come to worship the sacred place.

Since its construction at its current location, in 2012 - 2013, Tien Nga Temple was renovated and embellished comprehensively on a large scale. The current Tien Nga Temple is built in the traditional style, with overlapping terraces and roofs, including four buildings connected together, with roofs that flow close together. According to folklore, the temple's architecture from the inside out is: the first building, the second building, the third building and the fourth building. The buildings are built in the style of gables, pillars and columns. The fourth building alone has an additional "western porch, upper gutter" section. The western part of the fourth building is made of concrete, reinforced concrete, sturdy and has a fairly large area. On the western porch in the central part of the temple, a flagpole is built. This is an architectural part built in the early 20th century, nearly a hundred years old, and is relatively well preserved to this day. The flagpole architecture is built on a moderate scale, in harmony with the overall architecture of the temple.

According to the inscription on the bell of the flagpole cast in 1934, the flagpole is a sacred architectural part, used to raise the flag, adding to the majestic and majestic beauty of Tien Nga Temple. The flagpole is also a bell tower, used to ring the bell when there are major ceremonies of the temple. The flagpole is a one-room architecture, with a nearly square floor plan, two overlapping roofs, eight roofs, a flat concrete roof, iron reinforcement, fish scale tiles, curved roofs, and diagonal roof edges. On the upper roof, the two ends of the ridge are decorated with patterns, flower strings of seal characters with leaves, and the ridges are decorated with rows of Bodhi leaves. On the front ridge, there is a decorative frame, inside are three large Chinese characters of the temple's name "Tien Nga Tu". On the lower roof, the curved roof is decorated with dragon leaves. The flagpole has only one small door for entry and exit, on the west wall. The front wall of the flagpole has a circular window, inside is a woven panel forming the character of longevity in the style of stylized Chinese seal characters. On the flagpole, the corners of the walls are built with pillars to ensure the solid structure of the building, while adding beauty to the architecture. On the corner pillars of the front wall of the flagpole, a parallel sentence frame is created, on which the parallel sentences in Chinese characters are built.

Thank you for choosing iguide.ai to accompany your exciting experience!