Voi Phuc temple

Voi Phuc temple in Thuy Khue, now is No. 251 Thuy Khue street, Tay Ho district, Hanoi. In Le Dynasty, the relic in Thuy Chuong ward, after being converted to Thuy Khue in Trung, formerly Vinh Thuan district. The temples of Voi Phuc and Thu Le worshiped Linh Lang god from the Ly dynasty. The so-called Voi Phuc Temple because the temple has a statue of elephant stone posture, the symbol of the kneeling elephant invited the Prince rides up to the front. According to Dai Viet su ky toan thu, the Thuy Khue Temple was Thuy Chuong palace. When the palace was destroyed, the local people used the old foundation to build the Temple of Linh Lang god.
The story of Linh Lang has been recorded in many books. Folklore also speaks a lot. It can be summed up as follows: In the Ly dynasty (Ly Thai Tong’s reign), one day the king and other mandarins in the court went to Dam Dam (West Lake) and Bong Lai. The king met a beautiful young woman named Cao Nuong. The king was very fond of her so he sent people to bring her back to the palace, married and built a palace on the edge of Dam Dam in Thuy Chuong ward for her.
One day when she took a bath in the West Lake was wrapped by a one horn dragon and then got pregnant. On December 13, year of the snake (1029), she gave birth to a handsome prince. The king was very happy and named him Hoang Lang.
In 1044, Hoang Lang mastered martial arts. Then Champa invaders invaded our country. He went to fight the enemy with the King, went to the capital of Do Ban, killed King Chiem, Chiem soldiers disbanded, ran away disorder.
In 1069, he followed King Ly Thanh Tong to the south and defeated Trinh Vinh.
In the year 1077 Tong dynasty brought troops to invade Vietnam. General Ly Thuong Kiet, commander of the infantry and navy forces, assigned the Prince to take over the navy forces, advancing troops to destroy the army of General Quach Quy in Pha Lai, opposite to the north. coordinated with the army of Ly Thuong Kiet strongly counterattacked, destroying most of enemy troops of Deputy General Trieu Tiet... triumphantly returning, the king was awarded a lot. But the prince gave it to the people. Only ask the king to fling the flag, where the flag lies is where his house is. The flag flew to Thu Le camp, the king built the palace there for the Prince. Shortly after, the Prince was not sick but passed away, the king gave the Prince the name Linh Lang Dai Vuong., order the two villages Thuy Khue and Thu Le set up worship him as the god.
At present, the relics preserve the festival associated with the legend of Linh Lang. The annual festival is held twice a year on the day of birth and on the day he passes away. The birth of the god is December 13 (lunar calendar), offerings are usually three feasts: buffalo, pigs, goats and other fruits to worship god.
The deification day is the 12th day of the second month of the lunar month. During the temple festival, the procession from Thu Le to Thuy Khue (general and the birthplace of the god) was held.
Thuy Khue Temple is certainly old and has been repaired many times. According to the oldest tablet in the temple, the tablet was built in the third Vinh Tuong (1621), it said: "The temple was famous as sacred, the king’s wishes usually come true so order to repair and upgrade the temple with 20 acres of land..."
In the Nguyen Dynasty, the temple was restored many times. The architecture is now boldly imprinted with the style of the Nguyen Dynasty.
The architectural surface of the monument is arranged in the form of Chinese letter “Dinh”, outside is the three-arched-gates entrance, through the courtyard leading to the main temple including the front house and harem.
The three-arched-gates entrance of the temples is a small three-storeyed house, made from brick, under the four columns which is very firm, embracing two statues of the Guard, outside placed two stone elephants.
Through the courtyard is a smooth step with smooth blue stone lead us into the front house. The five-house is made up of four gabled pillars, two of which are tiger-faced, and the fierce tigers reflect the desire of the peasant population. On the top left, carved many topics: dragons, clouds, flowers, leaves ... look quite clean. The centerpiece hangs parallel sentences praising the merits of the god. Two custodians attached many stone tablets, which is the record of restoration and repair temple.
The harem included 3 rooms, like the front house, the two sides also decorated with tigers, geometric patterns, and four holy animals. High in the middle of the palace is the throne, the article is written "Linh Lang the highest god", next to a square stone bowl. The face is carved with a Rahu while the two sides are decorated with the two dragons embracing the moon. This is a precious artifact that presents art creation in the Le dynasty. In the temple, the tablet is 92cm high, 61cm wide, 10cm thick, placed on a turtle body, and four faces are carved with Han characters. This is a valuable relic to help us understand the origin of the temple as well as the process of restoration and repair.
Through many historical changes, the temple has been fortunate enough to reserve a number of valuable relics. In addition to the six stone tablets, relics also reserved the throne, tablets, hammocks, octagonal bowls, palanquin, lacquer sentences are painted gold with gorgeous content praising the merits of the god.
In particular, the three steps into the temple are still four stone carved dragon statues, with the carved sculpture, liberal. Dragons stylized flowers flow smoothly. These are the stone dragons of the Le dynasty.
Together with historical, architectural, and artistic values, Voi Phuc Temple is a precious cultural heritage of Hanoi capital. The temple is not only a place for pilgrims to visit, but also places to be attended by researchers.
The temple was classified by the Ministry of Culture (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) as a scenic architectural monument at Decision No. 15 / VH-QD dated 27/01/1986.