Do Temple of the Ly Kings

A ceramic panel stands before the entrance, shaped like an unrolled scroll and carved with 214 characters. Hold on to that number.

Đền Đô. Cổ Pháp Điện. Đền Lý Bát Đế. Three names for one place, and each name says something different. Đền Đô is the name most people know. Cổ Pháp Điện carries the name Cổ Pháp. That was the old name of the land of Đình Bảng, where the Lý dynasty rose. Đền Lý Bát Đế is the plainest of all. It means the temple of the eight Lý emperors. All eight are worshipped here, from Lý Thái Tổ to Lý Huệ Tông.

The temple stands in Từ Sơn ward, in Bắc Ninh province. Within the ward, it lies in the quarter called Thượng. This was once the land of Đình Bảng, the home village of the Lý family line. In 1030, Emperor Lý Thái Tông had a temple built on this very ground. It honored his ancestors and his father, the founding emperor. The act had a spiritual meaning and a political one at the same time. It was as if he were telling all the people: we came from here, and we have not forgotten it.

In 2014, the tombs and temples of the Lý emperors were ranked a special national heritage site by the Prime Minister.

The ceramic panel stands just ahead.

There are 214 characters on it. The panel was completed to mark the thousandth anniversary of Thăng Long, the city now called Hanoi. Carved on it is the full text of the Edict on Moving the Capital, written by Lý Thái Tổ. The founding emperor of the dynasty wrote it when he decided to move the capital from Hoa Lư to Thăng Long, in 1010. From here, the story of Đô Temple and the story of Thăng Long and Hanoi are bound together.

Farther on lies the half-moon lake.

The lake covers 9,500 square meters. In its middle stands the Thủy đình, the water pavilion. It is one of the loveliest sights of the whole site, above all in festival season. Then Quan họ songs ring out across the water from dragon boats. Quan họ is call-and-response folk singing from Bắc Ninh, sung by pairs of women and pairs of men. The water pavilion of Đô Temple once appeared on a 5 dong banknote from the French colonial period. Today the same image is still printed on the 1,000 dong coin. So a coin in someone's pocket might carry a small keepsake of Đô Temple.

Next comes the Ngũ Long Môn, the Five Dragon Gate, which leads into the inner enclosure. Dragons are carved on its doors. Through it lies the heart of the site.

Ahead stands the Phương đình, a pavilion with eight roof slopes over three bays. It covers about 70 square meters. This is the best place to take in the main axis of the temple buildings. After it come the front hall of offerings, called Tiền tế, and the linking hall, called Chuyển bồng. Together they lead straight to the inner sanctuary.

The inner sanctuary, the Hậu cung, covers about 220 square meters. Here stand the altar thrones, the ancestral tablets and the statues of the eight Lý emperors. To step inside is to enter the most solemn space of the whole site. The incense here seems never to have gone out in a thousand years.

The Lý emperors ruled from 1009 to 1225 over Đại Việt, an old name for Vietnam. That makes 216 years. They founded the nation, opened the way and gave its civilization its shape. The Temple of Literature in Thăng Long is a legacy of this very dynasty. So are Phật Tích Pagoda in Bắc Ninh and many other works. To stand before the tablets of the eight emperors is to stand before the source of cultural values that are still alive today.

Beside the main shrine stand the Văn chỉ and the Võ chỉ. The Văn chỉ honors civil officials who served the dynasty well. Among them are Tô Hiến Thành and Lý Đạo Thành. The Võ chỉ honors famous generals, Lê Phụng Hiểu and Lý Thường Kiệt among them. Đào Cam Mộc is honored there too. No dynasty lasts on the strength of its emperor alone. This one held firm because it had men like Lý Thường Kiệt. Tradition names him as the author of the poem Nam quốc sơn hà, Rivers and Mountains of the Southern Land. The dynasty also had men like Tô Hiến Thành, who kept order and discipline at court.

The grounds also hold the Jade Well, called Giếng Ngọc, and a memorial house. The old well was found when work began on rebuilding the temple. The memorial house keeps many records of the temple and the Lý emperors. They give a fuller picture of a dynasty that shaped a whole civilization.

The festival of Đô Temple is held every year from the 14th to the 16th day of the third lunar month. The main day is the 15th. On those days, Quan họ rises from the dragon boats on the half-moon lake, and festival drums sound across the temple yard. Everywhere there are games of Vietnamese chess, traditional wrestling and the water puppets of Đồng Ngư. On festival days, the temple does not simply keep the past. It is a place where the past is still alive.

There are 214 characters, and 216 years. Đô Temple is a place to stand still for a moment. It is a place to remember that everything we have today had a beginning: a piece of land, a decision, and the people who chose to move the capital toward the future.