Duc Thanh temple

The name of the temple is Duc Thanh, this is the name that local people still use from the past until now. In addition, the monument is called Giap Bac shrine because the relic is located in the north of Ho Khau village.
In the Le dynasty, it was located in the North part of Ho Khau ward, Quang Duc district, Phung Thien. In the Nguyen Dynasty, the relic was found in Ho Khuc ward, Vinh Thuan district, Hoai Duc. Until the French came, it was in An Thai, Tho Xuong district, suburban Hanoi. Today, the relic belongs to number 79 - subgroup 7 – group 2 - Buoi ward - Tay Ho district - Hanoi city (now belongs to No. 89 Lane 378 Thuy Khue - Buoi ward - Tay Ho district - Hanoi).
To reach the monument, visitors can go by many roads and by various means. But the most convenient and easy way to go is the following way: From Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum on Hung Vuong Street - Quan Thanh - Thuy Khue to the area of Buoi Ward turn right into the gate of Ho Khau village about 300m to the monument Duc Thanh temple, located on the left, looking toward West Lake.
Ho Khau is an ancient place located in the northwestern Thang Long ancient capital. For a long time the land and people of Ho Khau have been famous throughout the country for the hands and talents of the craftsmen whose life and unique products have gone into history, folk songs, and legends.
History, legends, ordained, biographical and folk legends in the area are said Temple worship God has many merits with Thang Long in the first period to become the country's capital. The the background and the history of the gods are ancient and now record quite a lot:
Once in the 18th King Hung’s reign, in Bo Chanh prefecture, Le Quoc is a mandarin in the court, and as the governor of the Ministry, the king permits his daughter Princess Can Nuong to marry the mandarin. Later, the princess died soon without a child, he proposed to look for the landscape, choose a good land in the village hamlet of Ho Khau, Hoan Duc district, Hoai Duc for housing, and then later on he married to Thuc Nuong, the Holy Mother. Since they did not have children soon, they often go sightseeing in West Lake, praying in temples. One day she conjures up a romantic dream – meeting the West Lake dragon god then gets pregnant. After that she gave birth to two “eggs” which later became two handsome boys. Older one is called Cong Le, the second boy is called Ca Le. The two grew up having great talents. King Hung right away realized they were the gods in human form, later conferred the elder to be the Left General, he is the Right General of the navy.
At this time, King Thuc brought troops to invade the country, the two men together with Tan Vien mountain god defeated the Thuc army. When they boat from the bank of the Nhu Ha River to To Lich River to Ho Khau hamlet, where the current Ve Quoc temple is located, they also fly to heaven.
This news came to King Hung, the king later ordered for Ho Khau hamlet to worship the temple of two brothers. The Northern part established the temple for Cong Le called Duc Thanh temple, the Eastern part called Ve Quoc temple for Ca Le. Before Thai To bring troops to fight Champa came to the island to pray, later on the king won over Chiem then conferred for two as “Phu quoc te the” (The one who helped the king win).
Tran Nhan Tong had sent Tran Quoc Tuan to the island of the temple, and the brothers were once again helped to defeat the enemy troops in Bach Dang River. King Tran confers the two as “Hien ung uy linh”.
In the Le, the flood almost destroyed Yen Phu dyke, the king sent people to the temple to ask for the water to be lower. From then on, the two gods often manifested the spirit of national security.
Duc Thanh Temple is located on high land, facing east to West Lake. Previously the temple had a large and complete architectural scale. Over the years, in the face of the harsh destruction of nature, war and human impact, some parts of the master plan of the monument have been eroded. At present, the components of the relic include: Temple gate in front, the main architectural structure of the style of character "Dinh” include: Front house, main house and harem.
The entrance of the monument was built on the outside, which is a late architectural structure built of two pillars and the pillar body was blank to write the parallel sentences. In the middle is a large canvas embossed with three large Chinese characters "Duc Thanh Tu" (Duc Thanh temple), surrounded by an enclosed wall system, grafted with bricks in the 16th century.
The front house is a house of 3 rooms, 2 small rooms built with brick wall and tile roof. In the middle of the roof decorated with a dragon embracing the letter, inside there are three words written in ancient Chinese characters "Duc Thanh Tu".
Between the front house and harem is a medium room.
The harem structure is a three room horizontal house. In the middle of the palace is a 120cm high incense stick, above a large glass, inside the glass is the decoration of the God tablet.
Exist to this day, Duc Thanh temple reserved a set of relics of cultural and historical value with a variety of types and quality: 01 book "God of Ho Khau Ward" the brothers Duc Thanh General and Ve Quoc General; 02 ordained deities from the Canh Hung year 44 (1783); Three tablets, including 02 tablets of the 30th year of Tu Duc (1877) and one of the fifth Thanh Thai tablet (1893). 01 door of hammock with gold lacquer, decorations - art nineteenth century art; 01 lacquered picture "Duc Thanh temple"; 03 pairs of sentences are used to express the respect for worship gods; 02 bell brass; 01 set of peaks; 01 set of aromas; 02 double lamp tree
Duc Thanh temple is one of the relics dating early in the capital, through the harsh challenges of time in the country's history. The time and the fire from the war can only change the face of the temple, while the great value still survives until today.
In the narrow space of the locality, the temple has a close attachment from a thousand generations. Right from the beginning, the temple was a meeting place, carrying out all the rituals of the village. Up to now, Duc Thanh temple has promoted its true value, the example of the gods having positive effects in educating the fine cultural traditions of the nation for all classes of local people.
The temple lies next to the North West of Thang Long, next to West Lake and the legendary To river, flowing with poetry and color history, myths, concepts of the universe that the science needs. Duc Thanh temple will be along with other relics such as the National Temple, Thang Long Temple, Dong Co Temple, Tinh Lau Pagoda, etc. forming a cultural and historical area, a tour of West Lake's interesting tourist attractions in Hanoi Capital.
The temple was awarded by the Hanoi People's Committee as the Historic Artistic Monument in Decision No. 382 / QD-UB of January 18, 2006.