Kim Liên Pagoda

IPrincess Từ Hoa of the Lý dynasty and the tradition of Buddha in front, Spirit behind

Kim Liên Pagoda stands on a level, elevated spit of land jutting into the northeastern waters of West Lake on Từ Hoa Street, in ancient Nghi Tàm Village, Tây Hồ Ward, Hanoi (prior to 1 July 2025, Quảng An Ward of the former Tây Hồ District, which after merging the inner-dyke portions of Quảng An, Nhật Tân, Tứ Liên and Yên Phụ wards with Bưởi and Xuân La wards under Resolution No. 1656/NQ-UBTVQH15 forms the new Tây Hồ Ward). Across nearly a millennium of Thăng Long history, this peninsula has been both a serene Buddhist sanctuary and a living monument to Princess Từ Hoa under the reign of King Lý Thần Tông (1128 - 1138).

Over the centuries the monastery has borne four successive names, each marking a distinct historical layer: originating in the twelfth century as the Từ Hoa Palace (and the princess's Buddhist hermitage), it was known under the Trần dynasty as Đống Long Tự (Đống Long Pagoda), took the formal title Đại Bi Tự (大悲寺, Temple of Great Compassion) in the fifteenth-century Early Lê period, and following its major palace-style reconstruction in the thirty-second year of the Cảnh Hưng era (1771) under Lord Trịnh Sâm received its enduring name Kim Liên Tự (金蓮寺, Golden Lotus Pagoda).

IIFrom the Lý-era Từ Hoa Palace to the grand reconstructions of 1771 and 1792

After Empress Dowager Nguyễn Thị Anh rebuilt the monastery as Đại Bi Tự and erected the Thái Hòa stone stele (1443 / 1445), the lakeside pagoda became a favored pilgrimage site of the Lê royal family and the Trịnh lords' court throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In the Quý Mùi year, the twenty-fourth year of the Cảnh Hưng era (1763) under King Lê Hiển Tông, Consort Dowager Vũ Thị Ngọc Tuyền (principal consort of Lord Trịnh Doanh and mother of Lord Trịnh Sâm) donated funds to repair Đại Bi Pagoda.

In the Tân Mão year, the thirty-second year of the Cảnh Hưng era (1771), the ruling lord Tĩnh Đô Vương Trịnh Sâm (ruled 1767 - 1782), a devoted patron of Buddhism deeply fond of the scenic waters of West Lake, allocated substantial treasury funds, dispatched master court carpenters and transferred precious timber from a royal pavilion to Nghi Tàm to reconstruct the entire monastery in palatial architectural style. Seeing how the Nghi Tàm peninsula jutted into West Lake like a golden lotus receptacle, Lord Trịnh Sâm formally renamed the temple from Đại Bi Tự to Kim Liên Tự (Golden Lotus Pagoda) upon completing the 1771 reconstruction.

Two decades later, in the Nhâm Tý year, the fifth year of the Quang Trung era (1792) under the Tây Sơn dynasty (completed in the first year of the Cảnh Thịnh era, 1793), Kim Liên Pagoda underwent another major expansion sponsored by court officials and the people of Nghi Tàm Village. This 1792 reconstruction finalized the layout of three parallel sanctuary halls arranged in the shape of the Chinese character Tam (三) together with the single-row, two-tiered, eight-roofed timber Triple Gate that survives intact today.

• 12th century (1128 - 1138)Princess Từ Hoa establishes the Từ Hoa Palace and Silkworm Camp
  Under King Lý Thần Tông, Princess Từ Hoa led palace women to the shore of West Lake to establish the Từ Hoa Palace and Mulberry Camp to teach sericulture, after her passing, villagers built a Buddhist temple on the site in her memory.
• 13th - 14th centuryKnown as Đống Long Tự under the Trần dynasty
  During the Trần dynasty, the temple on the former Từ Hoa Palace grounds was expanded under the formal name Đống Long Tự.
• 1443 / 1445Rebuilding of Đại Bi Pagoda and carving of the Thái Hòa stele
  Under King Lê Nhân Tông (1st year of Thái Hòa, 1443, or 3rd year of Thái Hòa, 1445), Empress Dowager Nguyễn Thị Anh granted land to rebuild the temple as Đại Bi Tự and erected the Đại Bi tự bi ký, the oldest surviving temple stele in inner Hanoi.
• 1763Restoration sponsored by Consort Dowager Vũ Thị Ngọc Tuyền
  In the twenty-fourth year of the Cảnh Hưng era (1763) under King Lê Hiển Tông, Consort Dowager Vũ Thị Ngọc Tuyền donated funds to restore Đại Bi Pagoda by West Lake.
• 1771Grand reconstruction by Lord Trịnh Sâm and renaming to Kim Liên Tự
  In the thirty-second year of the Cảnh Hưng era (1771), Lord Tĩnh Đô Vương Trịnh Sâm funded a major palace-style reconstruction using precious timber and renamed the monastery Kim Liên Tự (Golden Lotus Pagoda).
• 1792 - 1793Major Tây Sơn reconstruction finalizing the chữ Tam layout
  In the fifth year of the Quang Trung era (1792), a comprehensive restoration completed the three parallel Lower, Middle and Upper halls in chữ Tam formation and the eight-roofed timber Triple Gate.
• 1962Ranked as a National Historical and Architectural Heritage Site
  On 28 April 1962, the Ministry of Culture issued Decision No. 313-VH/VP classifying Kim Liên Pagoda in the first batch of national historical and cultural heritage sites.

IIIThe single-row timber Triple Gate and the three parallel chữ Tam halls

In the history of traditional Vietnamese architecture, Kim Liên Pagoda stands as a singular masterpiece combining a single-row four-pillar timber Triple Gate with a three-hall parallel plan shaped like the character Tam (三) imbued with eighteenth-century palatial refinement. The entire inner complex rests atop a raised brick platform retained by dressed green stone blocks, approached by stone steps rising from the West Lake shore.

The structure that immediately captivates architects and artists is the Triple Gate (Tam quan) of Kim Liên Pagoda. Unlike masonry gateways or timber gates supported by two rows of columns, the Triple Gate of Kim Liên Pagoda is built entirely of ironwood on a single row of four main columns standing in a straight line atop four lotus-carved green stone bases. To keep a single row of timber columns stable against the strong winds of West Lake without tilting, eighteenth-century master carpenters engineered a self-balancing system of tie beams, console brackets (kẻ bẩy), wooden panels and a two-tiered, eight-roofed superstructure (chồng diêm). The wide central bay houses wooden panel doors, flanked by two narrower side passages. Above rise two tiers of eight roofs covered in curved tiles with eight soaring phoenix-tail eaves, while beneath the eaves and across the spandrel panels unfold openwork and high-relief carvings of twin dragons flanking the moon, nested dragons, phoenixes holding scrolls, the four sacred animals and floral vines representing the pinnacle of late Restored Lê and Tây Sơn woodcarving.

The three parallel chữ Tam sanctuary halls and historical portrait statues

Beyond the Triple Gate and the broad brick courtyard stands the main sanctuary arranged in the shape of the Chinese character Tam (三), consisting of three parallel halls: the Lower Pagoda (Front Hall), the Middle Pagoda (Incense-Burning Hall) and the Upper Pagoda (Upper Sanctuary), separated by two narrow open-air skywells (thiên tỉnh) that admit natural light and breezes from West Lake while creating the layered depth of a royal palace. All three halls feature two-tiered, eight-roofed superstructures crowned by terracotta dragons along their curved ridges. On the gable walls of the halls, circular Longevity-character windows (sắc không song) framed in ornamental brickwork lend a refined rhythm to the side elevations.

Inside the three halls rests an outstanding ensemble of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century gilded wooden sculptures. The Lower and Middle Pagodas house the Dharma Guardians, the Eight Vajra Guardians and gilded ceremonial arches carved with dragons and phoenixes. The Upper Pagoda (the innermost and highest hall) enshrines the Three Times Buddhas, the Amitabha Triad, Shakyamuni Buddha, Cundi Avalokiteshvara and the Nine-Dragon birth relief.

A rare feature of worship at Kim Liên Pagoda is that alongside the Buddhist pantheon, the monastery dedicates honored spaces to the two historical figures most closely bound to its history: first, the statue of Princess Từ Hoa (portrayed as a serene, noble lady of the Lý court attended by two palace maids), honoring the patron ancestor of Nghi Tàm sericulture and founder of the Từ Hoa Palace, and second, the portrait statue of Lord Tĩnh Đô Vương Trịnh Sâm (1739 - 1782), depicting the Trịnh ruler seated on a platform in princely attire yet with the contemplative expression of a Buddhist layman, with real human hair implanted for his beard and hair in accordance with eighteenth-century portrait sculpture tradition.

IVThe lie of the land and the facing

This section is the library's own reading through the eyes of traditional form-school feng shui, not something recorded in the pagoda's stelae or historical chronicles. We state this clearly so that readers can distinguish historical documentation from geomantic interpretation.

VThe commemoration of Princess Từ Hoa and rites at Kim Liên Pagoda

Traditional festival life at Kim Liên Pagoda expresses the gratitude of the people of ancient Nghi Tàm Village toward the Buddha and their sericulture patron ancestor, Princess Từ Hoa. Every year, the main commemorative ceremony honoring Princess Từ Hoa is held solemnly on the 1st day of the 3rd lunar month (alongside the spring festival cycle of Nghi Tàm Village in the second and early third lunar months). On this day, elders and residents of Nghi Tàm offer incense, fresh West Lake flowers and traditional local products before the Three Jewels and the altar of Princess Từ Hoa to give thanks to the royal princess who taught mulberry cultivation and silk weaving to the village in the twelfth century.

Beyond the commemoration of Princess Từ Hoa on the 1st day of the 3rd lunar month, Kim Liên Pagoda is a beloved stop on the traditional Hanoi spring pilgrimage circuit around West Lake (linking Trấn Quốc Pagoda, Quán Thánh Temple, Tây Hồ Palace, Tảo Sách Pagoda, Vạn Niên Pagoda and Kim Liên Pagoda) during the Lunar New Year, the First Full Moon, Buddha's Birthday (15th day of the 4th lunar month) and the Vu Lan Festival (15th day of the 7th lunar month).

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