My Cu Pagoda is located in My Cu village, Chinh My Commune, Thuy Nguyen District, Hai Phong City. The pagoda has a unique position with its back leaning on a small and long land mountain, the overall structure of the pagoda is designed in three layouts, gradually rising from the foot of the mountain.
The front of My Cu Pagoda (Photo: Collection)
Legend has it that the parents of King Le Dai Hanh went to the pagoda to pray for a child, then they gave birth to the King who afterward replaced the Dinh Dynasty and opened the Le Dynasty with many outstanding achievements in the feudal history of Vietnam. It also means that the pagoda was built more than 11 centuries ago.
Over time, the traces of ancient architecture have gradually faded, and the current architecture is the result of many restorations (the most recent one in the year of the Horse in 1942). The current architecture still retains the original layout of the pagoda in the order: Upper - Middle - Lower Position.
The preserved ancient features of the pagoda (Photo: Collection)
At the upper position of the structure, there is a small temple to worship Guanyin Tong Tu and Buddha Tuyet Son, at the middle position of the structure, there is the ancestor worshiping house, at the lower position of the structure, there is the Triratna area in the style of "Dinh” in Chinese letter, including the front hall (5 compartments) and Buddha hall (3 compartments). The most impressive features of the pagoda are the Buddha statues. The total number of statues of the pagoda includes 27 ones, carved in wood, or cast in bronze... The most unique one in the pagoda is the largest Amitabha Buddha statue, carved with an ironwood trunk growing in the pagoda. At the foot of the mountain, in front of the main hall, there is an ancient tower garden consisting of 2 stone towers, 8 brick towers…
In particular, My Cu Pagoda was also the base of the farmer insurgency led by Tran Cao, contributing to the collapse of the political system of the early Le Dynasty, which led to the opening of the Ly Dynasty. Not only associated with feudal history, but My Cu Pagoda is also a landmark place in the history of the resistance war in the period of 1930-1945.
The original architecture of My Cu Pagoda (Photo: Collection)
If you visit Hai Phong and want to find ancient spaces, My Cu Pagoda will definitely be a new experience for you.