While Đông Kinh (Thăng Long) was where the emperors of the Later Lê dynasty held court and governed the realm, the land of Lam Sơn on the northern bank of the Chu River at the foot of Mount Dầu was the cradle of the ten-year uprising that expelled the Ming occupation (1418 - 1427) and the eternal resting place of the early-Lê monarchs. After King Lê Thái Tổ (Lê Lợi) passed away in the Quý Sửu year (1433) and his coffin was brought home for burial at Vĩnh Lăng, the Lê court constructed a second imperial capital in his homeland known as Lam Kinh or Tây Kinh (the Western Capital).
Spanning a conservation area of roughly 200 hectares across Lam Sơn commune and part of Kiên Thọ commune in Thanh Hóa province, the Lam Kinh special national heritage complex follows classical East Asian geomancy, with Mount Dầu serving as its rear pillow, the Jade River (sông Ngọc) winding before the Meridian Gate (Ngọ Môn), the grand Công-shaped Main Palace, nine crescent-arranged Imperial Ancestral Temples (Thái Miếu), six royal tomb complexes, and five early-Lê stone steles recognized as National Treasures.
IHistorical timeline
- 1416 - 1418The Lũng Nhai Oath and the raising of the Lam Sơn uprising bannerIn the second lunar month of the Bính Thân year (1416), Lê Lợi and 18 sworn comrades took the Lũng Nhai Oath. On the 2nd day of the Lunar New Year in the Mậu Tuất year (February 7, 1418), he raised the banner of uprising in his homeland of Lam Sơn, took the title Bình Định Vương (Pacifying King), and began the ten-year war of resistance against the Ming army.
- 1428Lê Lợi ascends the throne as Emperor and founds the Later Lê dynastyFollowing the Chi Lăng - Xương Giang victory and the Đông Quan Oath, in the fourth lunar month of the Mậu Thân year (1428), Lê Lợi ascended the throne in Đông Kinh (Thăng Long) as Emperor Lê Thái Tổ, proclaimed the national name Đại Việt and the reign title Thuận Thiên, and designated his ancestral land of Lam Sơn as Tây Kinh (the Western Capital).
- 1433 - 1434Burial of Lê Thái Tổ at Vĩnh Lăng and construction of the Lam Kinh palaces and shrinesIn the eighth lunar month of the Quý Sửu year (1433), King Lê Thái Tổ passed away. In the tenth lunar month of that year, his coffin was escorted back for interment at Vĩnh Lăng in Lam Sơn, where the Vĩnh Lăng Stele composed by Nguyễn Trãi was erected. In the 7th year of Thuận Thiên (1434) under King Lê Thái Tông, construction began on the palaces and ancestral temples of Lam Kinh.
- 15th - early 16th centuryCompletion of the palace complex and the royal tombs of the early-Lê monarchsAcross the reigns of Lê Thái Tông, Lê Nhân Tông, Lê Thánh Tông, Lê Hiến Tông, and Lê Túc Tông, Lam Kinh was continually expanded with the Main Palace, nine Imperial Ancestral Temples, and the tombs of emperors and queen mothers accompanied by finely carved monumental stone steles.
- 17th - 18th centuryFires and restorations during the Restored Lê periodThrough the Lê - Mạc wars and major fires (including a great fire in 1600 under King Lê Kính Tông), many timber halls at Lam Kinh were destroyed and repeatedly restored by Restored Lê emperors and the Trịnh lords before gradually falling into ruin during the Nguyễn period.
- 1962 - 2012National heritage and special national heritage rankings, and reconstruction of the Main PalaceLam Kinh was ranked as a national heritage site in 1962 and elevated to a special national heritage site on September 27, 2012 under Decision 1419/QĐ-TTg. Based on excavated archaeological foundations, the reconstruction of the ironwood Main Palace and nine Imperial Ancestral Temples began in 2010 and completed its interior gilded woodwork in the early 2020s.
- 2013 - 2020Recognition of five early-Lê stone steles as National TreasuresFive monumental stone steles at Lam Kinh were successively recognized as National Treasures, namely the Vĩnh Lăng Stele (December 30, 2013), the Khôn Nguyên Chí Đức Stele (2015), the Chiêu Lăng Stele (2016), the Dụ Lăng Stele (2017), and the Kính Lăng Stele (January 15, 2020). In 2018, the Lam Kinh Festival was held on a grand scale to mark the 600th anniversary of the Lam Sơn Uprising.
IILê Thái Tổ, early-Lê emperors, and the queen mothers
Lam Kinh was not an administrative capital for daily court audiences, but the sacred ancestral capital of the Later Lê imperial house. The central figure venerated here is Emperor Thái Tổ Cao Hoàng Đế Lê Lợi along with the founding ancestors of the Lê clan (Lê Hối, Lê Đinh, Lê Khoáng, and Lê Trừ) and the emperors of the early-Lê period.
Behind the Main Palace stand nine Imperial Ancestral Temples (Thái Miếu) arranged in a crescent arc, each enshrining the spirit tablets and ritual thrones of successive Lê emperors and empresses. Surrounding the palace compound are six early-Lê royal tombs, namely Vĩnh Lăng (Lê Thái Tổ), Hựu Lăng (Lê Thái Tông), Mục Lăng (Lê Nhân Tông), Chiêu Lăng (Lê Thánh Tông), Dụ Lăng (Lê Hiến Tông), and Kính Lăng (Lê Túc Tông), together with the tombs of queen mothers including Empress Dowager Quang Thục Ngô Thị Ngọc Dao (mother of King Lê Thánh Tông) on Phú Lâm Hill and Empress Dowager Huy Gia Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Huyên (mother of King Lê Hiến Tông).
About 5 km from the center of Lam Kinh in Tép village (Kiên Thọ commune) stands the Temple of Prince Trung Túc Lê Lai, the founding general who donned Lê Lợi's royal robe and sacrificed his life to break the Ming siege at Mount Chí Linh in 1419, giving rise to the paired death anniversary observances on the 21st and 22nd days of the eighth lunar month.
The central ritual space where Lê monarchs paid homage to the royal tombs, comprising the three interconnected halls of Quang Đức, Sùng Hiếu, and Diên Khánh and the rear crescent of ancestral shrines.
The burial grounds of Lê Thái Tổ alongside Lê Thái Tông, Lê Nhân Tông, Lê Thánh Tông, Lê Hiến Tông, Lê Túc Tông, and the queen mothers amid ancient forest.
Comprising the Vĩnh Lăng Stele (1433), Chiêu Lăng Stele (1498), Khôn Nguyên Chí Đức Stele (1498), Dụ Lăng Stele (1504), and Kính Lăng Stele (1505).
IIIMount Dầu, the Jade River, and the ironwood forest of Lam Sơn
A dragon vein (long mạch) axis backed by Mount Dầu and facing Mount Chúa and the Chu River: The entire palace-shrine compound and Vĩnh Lăng are laid out along a strict north - south axis according to classical East Asian geomancy. To the north rises Mount Dầu (Du Sơn) as a solid rear pillow, from which a low ridge descends to the terrace of Vĩnh Lăng and the tortoise-shell mound supporting the Main Palace. To the south in front stand Mount Hương and farther away Mount Chúa as the front screen (tiền án), flanked on the left by Mount Phú Lâm as the Azure Dragon and on the right by Mount Hương and Mount Rồng as the White Tiger.
The crescent Jade River and the Ancient Well as a water-gathering bright hall (minh đường): In front of the Meridian Gate (Ngọ Môn) winds the Jade River (sông Ngọc, a canal drawing water from West Lake around the front of the citadel) like a silk ribbon, spanned by the arched White Bridge (Bạch Cầu, or Tiên Loan Kiều). About 50 meters to the left of the approach lies the large Ancient Well lined with laterite stone, its clear water never running dry year-round, serving as a point of water gathering (thủy tụ) that balances the vital energy of the inner palace.
Vĩnh Lăng at the central qi-gathering node (huyệt) at the foot of Mount Dầu: Unlike royal mausoleums enclosed by high walls and deep moats under other dynasties, Vĩnh Lăng of King Lê Thái Tổ rests on a level terrace along a gentle hill slope, backed by Mount Dầu and looking straight down the palace axis. The tomb is a simple, low square earthen mound flanked by two rows of stone mandarins and guardian beasts, surrounded by nearly 100 hectares of tranquil, centuries-old ironwood forest.
IVMain Palace, nine Imperial Ancestral Temples, royal tombs, and five National Treasure steles
The central Imperial Citadel and Main Palace of Lam Kinh begin at the White Bridge (Bạch Cầu) spanning the Jade River in the "upper house, lower bridge" (thượng gia hạ kiều) style, leading through the three-bay Meridian Gate (Ngọ Môn) roofed with curved tiles and guarded by a pair of stone nghê into the vast Dragon Courtyard (Sân Rồng). At the corner of the Dragon Courtyard near Ngọ Môn stands a more than 300-year-old banyan-persimmon tree (cây đa thị, a designated Vietnam Heritage Tree where a banyan trunk embraces a persimmon tree). Rising on the central stone terrace is the Lam Kinh Main Palace, built on a Công-shaped floor plan comprising three interconnected grand halls, namely Quang Đức (front hall), Sùng Hiếu (middle hall), and Diên Khánh (rear sanctuary). Reconstructed across 1,645.04 square meters directly atop 138 excavated fifteenth-century stone column bases, the palace uses thousands of cubic meters of green ironwood with stacked beam-and-strut trusses and richly gilded dragon carvings.
Directly behind the Main Palace stand nine Imperial Ancestral Temples (Thái Miếu) arranged in a gentle crescent embracing the rear sanctuary, roofed with curved tiles and housing the ritual thrones and spirit tablets of the emperors and queen mothers of the Later Lê dynasty.
Vĩnh Lăng (the Tomb of King Lê Thái Tổ) lies about 300 meters northwest of the palace compound. The sacred way leading to the tomb is lined with two symmetrical rows of fifteenth-century stone statues, including attending mandarins, nghê guardians, horses, rhinoceroses, and tigers carved in the vigorous, understated style of early-Lê stone sculpture. Right on the right side of the entrance to the tomb stand the nearly century-old laughing guava tree (cây ổi cười, shaped like a bowing dragon whose leaves quiver when its trunk or fork is lightly tickled) and a roughly 600-year-old sui tree.
The Vĩnh Lăng Stele stands in a stele pavilion about 300 meters southwest of King Lê Thái Tổ's tomb and was erected in the tenth lunar month of the Quý Sửu year (1433). Carved from a single block of sedimentary stone, the stele measures 2.79 m or 2.97 m high depending on the survey source, 1.94 m wide, and 0.27 m thick, resting on the back of a stone tortoise 3.46 m long. Its face is inscribed with roughly 750 Chinese characters composed by the statesman and scholar Nguyễn Trãi and calligraphed by Vũ Văn Phỉ, summarizing the life, virtue, and ten-year Lam Sơn uprising of Emperor Lê Thái Tổ.
Alongside the Vĩnh Lăng Stele (recognized in 2013), the Lam Kinh complex preserves four other National Treasure stone steles, namely the Chiêu Lăng Stele of King Lê Thánh Tông (erected in 1498, weighing about 13 tons, recognized in 2016), the Khôn Nguyên Chí Đức Stele of Empress Dowager Ngô Thị Ngọc Dao on Phú Lâm Hill (erected in 1498, recognized in 2015), the Dụ Lăng Stele of King Lê Hiến Tông (erected in 1504, recognized in 2017), and the Kính Lăng Stele of King Lê Túc Tông in Kiên Thọ commune (erected in 1505, recognized in 2020).
VLam Kinh festival on the twenty-first for Lê Lai and twenty-second for Lê Lợi
The Lam Kinh Festival takes place annually from the 21st to the 23rd day of the eighth lunar month (centered on the 21st and 22nd), immortalized in the centuries-old Vietnamese folk saying "The twenty-first for Lê Lai, the twenty-second for Lê Lợi" (Hăm mốt Lê Lai, hăm hai Lê Lợi).
On the 21st day of the eighth lunar month, incense-offering rites honoring Prince Trung Túc Lê Lai are solemnly held at Tép Temple. On the 22nd day (the death anniversary of King Lê Thái Tổ), the grand ceremony unfolds in the Dragon Courtyard before the Lam Kinh Main Palace with the procession of the palanquins of King Lê Thái Tổ and Prince Trung Túc Lê Lai, incense offerings, the reading of the ceremonial eulogy, and sacrificial rites following Later Lê court protocol.
The festive part reenacts the heroic spirit of Lam Sơn through historical stage tableaux (the Lũng Nhai Oath, Lê Lai Saving the Lord, the Liberation of Đông Quan Citadel, and the Coronation of King Lê) and performances of national intangible cultural heritage traditions of Thanh Hóa, including Xuân Phả Royal Dances (Trò Xuân Phả), Viên Khê Five Folk Performances (Ngũ trò Viên Khê), Pôồn Pôông dances, and Mường gong ensembles.
VIWhere historical sources differ
On the location of Mục Lăng (the Tomb of King Lê Nhân Tông): According to the Complete Annals of Đại Việt (Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư), six early-Lê royal tombs were built at Lam Kinh, namely Vĩnh Lăng (Lê Thái Tổ), Hựu Lăng (Lê Thái Tông), Mục Lăng (Lê Nhân Tông), Chiêu Lăng (Lê Thánh Tông), Dụ Lăng (Lê Hiến Tông), and Kính Lăng (Lê Túc Tông). Today five of these royal tombs have been clearly identified on the ground, whereas the exact location of Mục Lăng, the tomb of King Lê Nhân Tông (assassinated in 1459 during the coup of Lê Nghi Dân), remains an open question under ongoing archaeological investigation in the forests of Lam Kinh.
On the height measurement of the Vĩnh Lăng Stele (2.79 m or 2.97 m): Published descriptions of the Vĩnh Lăng Stele (excluding its stone tortoise base) show a slight discrepancy due to transposed decimal digits, with cultural heritage monographs recording a height of 2.79 m, width of 1.94 m, and thickness of 0.27 m (tortoise length 3.46 m, width 1.94 m, height 0.90 m), while several news agency dispatches record a height of 2.97 m, width of 1.94 m, and thickness of 0.27 m (tortoise length 3.46 m, width 1.90 m, height 0.94 m).
On the architectural reconstruction of the Lam Kinh Main Palace: Because the original fifteenth-century timber Main Palace burned down in the seventeenth century and no contemporary architectural drawings survived, the scientific council overseeing the 2010 - 2020 reconstruction relied strictly on the 138 original green stone column bases preserved in situ to determine bay widths and column spans, cross-referencing surviving sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Lê-period timber halls and temples to reconstruct the upper roof trusses and curved eaves.
VIILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Xã Lam Sơn và một phần xã Kiên Thọ (trước 01/07/2025 thuộc thị trấn Lam Sơn, xã Xuân Bái, huyện Thọ Xuân và xã Kiên Thọ, huyện Ngọc Lặc), tỉnh Thanh Hóa
- Getting there
- The complex is located in Lam Sơn commune (former Lam Sơn town) and part of Kiên Thọ commune, Thanh Hóa province, about 50 km northwest of former Thanh Hóa city center along National Highway 47 or the Hồ Chí Minh Highway, and only about 8 km from Thọ Xuân (Sao Vàng) Airport.
- Coordinates
- 19.9254, 105.4071
The Lam Kinh grounds are vast and shaded by ancient ironwood forest. Walking from the ticket gate to the White Bridge, Main Palace, Vĩnh Lăng, and Chiêu Lăng covers a considerable distance (about 2 - 3 km in total), so visitors may either stroll beneath the forest canopy or take the internal electric shuttle. Take time to examine the original fifteenth-century stone column bases displayed beside the Main Palace and admire the early-Lê dragon carvings on the Vĩnh Lăng and Chiêu Lăng steles. Maintain quiet and wear respectful attire when offering incense inside the Main Palace, the nine Imperial Ancestral Temples, and Vĩnh Lăng. A visit to Lam Kinh pairs well with the Temple of Lê Lai (5 km away), the Temple of Lê Hoàn in Xuân Lập (about 15 km away), and the Hồ Dynasty Citadel in Vĩnh Lộc (about 35 km away).
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?Quick Questions
Why was Lam Kinh called Tây Kinh (the Western Capital)?
Under the Later Lê dynasty, the primary administrative capital where the emperor held court at Thăng Long was called Đông Kinh (the Eastern Capital), while the dynasty's ancestral homeland in Lam Sơn (Thanh Hóa), where royal palaces and mausoleums were built to venerate the imperial ancestors, was honored as Tây Kinh (the Western Capital) or Lam Kinh.
How many National Treasures are preserved at the Lam Kinh Historical Complex?
The Lam Kinh special national heritage complex preserves 5 early-Lê stone steles recognized as National Treasures, namely the Vĩnh Lăng Stele of King Lê Thái Tổ (erected in 1433, recognized in 2013), the Khôn Nguyên Chí Đức Stele of Empress Dowager Ngô Thị Ngọc Dao (erected in 1498, recognized in 2015), the Chiêu Lăng Stele of King Lê Thánh Tông (erected in 1498, recognized in 2016), the Dụ Lăng Stele of King Lê Hiến Tông (erected in 1504, recognized in 2017), and the Kính Lăng Stele of King Lê Túc Tông (erected in 1505, recognized in 2020).
What is the meaning of the saying "The twenty-first for Lê Lai, the twenty-second for Lê Lợi"?
Lê Lai was the general who put on Lê Lợi's royal robe and led a suicide charge to break the Ming siege at Mount Chí Linh in 1419, sacrificing his life to save his lord. Before passing away on the 22nd day of the eighth lunar month in 1433, King Lê Thái Tổ instructed his descendants to hold Lê Lai's death anniversary on the 21st day of the eighth month, one day before the king's own memorial, in lasting gratitude.
Where is the laughing guava tree (cây ổi cười) at Lam Kinh located?
The laughing guava tree stands right on the right side of the entrance to Vĩnh Lăng (the Tomb of King Lê Thái Tổ). Nearly a century old and leaning gracefully toward the royal tomb, the tree is famous because when visitors lightly tickle its trunk or branch forks with their fingers, the leaves at the tips of its branches noticeably quiver.