King Le Thai Tong Temple

Information King Le Thai Tong Temple


Trace of the ancient citadel

King Le Thai To Temple is located at the north-western of Cao Bang Province, about 11 kilometres far from the central of Cao Bang Township. This temple was built on a high hillock at the north of Na Lu Citadel belonging to Den Village, Hoang Tung Ward, Hoa An District. The hillock's name is Long (Dragon) Hillock, which is one of the four floating dunes named Long (Dragon), Ly (Unicorn), Quy (Turtle), Phuong (Phoenix) during the feudalism time.

The legend has it that Cao Bien built Na Lu Citadel at the same time with Dai La Citadel, Phuc Hoa Citadel and Lang Son Citadel after conquering An Nam (the former Vietnam) and he then was nominated as a generalissimo. After that, Na Lu Citadel became the palace of kings and lords of this region such as Nung Ton Phuc, Be Khac Thieu, Mac Kinh Cung, and so on. The citadel at first was built with soil and until the time of Mac Dynasty it was restored and added with stone. It is rectangle-shaped and has four gates: the Eastern gate linked to Mang River's bank; the Western gate connected with the paddy field Na Thinh; the Southern gate connected with the paddy field Na Lu; and the Northern gate bordering on Khau Phuoc and the system of defence works at Khac Thieu Mount. After Le - Trinh soldiers expelled Mac warriors to China, Cao Bang became a town under control of Le Dynasty. The commander defending Cao Bang, Le Van Hai, has repaired Na Lu Citadel and founded a temple worshipping King Le Thai To there. Passing a very long time with different stages of the history, the citadel has been primarily destroyed and it is very hard to determine the base and walls of the old citadel. Even the four gates were occluded with soil. There is only a small part of the soil wall to the east left. On the base of the original citadel, a corner of King Le Temple is still remained with a few vestiges of limekiln, stone garden, wooden-hammer brick and base of the ancient palace. Nowadays, King Le Temple is considered as a valuable relic and is where festivities, art performances and social activities of Cao Bang residents are organized. The main festival is celebrated annually on the sixth day of the first month of the Lunar year.

Source: simplevietnam.com

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