On Đường Thành Street, among a row of household goods shops and brightly painted tube houses, there is a gate so small that people riding past every day may still not notice it. Through the gate is a narrow courtyard, then a three-bay building with a roof of traditional tiles and gable walls that close off the roof ends. Inside are eight Buddha statues, a statue of a woman seated in a shrine cabinet, a bronze bell and a pair of ritual cranes standing on turtles. All of it fits within about a hundred and fifty square meters.
The place has three names. People on the street call it chùa Kim Cổ, the Kim Cổ Pagoda, after the old hamlet. Heritage books also call it đền Kim Cổ, the Kim Cổ Temple, because before it became a pagoda it was a temple to Royal Consort Ỷ Lan. And the most distant name is Đồng Thiên quán, one of the four Taoist temples of Thăng Long. This page tells why those three names lie on the same plot of land, and why the Taoist temple left while its name stayed.
IOne plot of land, three layers of names
Đồng Thiên quán was one of the four great Taoist temples of the old capital, together with Trấn Vũ, Huyền Thiên and Đế Thích. The set is introduced in detail on the page on Huyền Thiên Temple, and here the library speaks only of what is particular to Đồng Thiên.
What is particular is something rarely seen. The original Taoist temple is no longer here. According to Người Hà Nội and Kiến Thức, early in the Tây Sơn period the Đồng Thiên temple moved to An Thái hamlet. The people of Kim Cổ hamlet stayed and built a temple on the old site to worship Royal Consort Ỷ Lan. Under Emperor Tự Đức, Buddha statues were added to the temple, and from then on it was called a pagoda. So the three names match three layers of time, the quán of the Lý period according to tradition, the hamlet's đền from the late 18th century, and the chùa from the mid 19th century.
Royal Consort Ỷ Lan in this pagoda
The one worshipped in her own right here is Empress Dowager Linh Nhân, Ỷ Lan, wife of King Lý Thánh Tông and mother of King Lý Nhân Tông, who died in 1117. History and folk memory remember her as a devout Buddhist who founded many pagodas. Lao Động Thủ Đô and Hà Nội Mới both record that the people of Kim Cổ worshipped her as the Bodhisattva Quán Âm (Guanyin). Her statue seated in the shrine cabinet is the statue of a woman that you see on entering.
The link between Ỷ Lan and Đồng Thiên quán belongs to tradition and late records, and no founding stele survives. Người Hà Nội, citing the book Hà Nội nghìn xưa, together with Kiến Thức and Hà Nội Mới, tells that King Lý Thánh Tông built a palace for Ỷ Lan in Kim Cổ ward, and that she founded Đồng Thiên quán within the palace grounds as a place of practice. Dân Việt says more briefly that Royal Consort Ỷ Lan herself built the temple around the 11th century. The sources tell the same story in more or less detail, and all of them are modern introductions to the heritage site, not steles of the Lý period.
The most common misunderstanding is to think that the pagoda on Đường Thành Street is the Lý-dynasty Taoist temple still intact. It is not. According to the very sources that introduce the site, the Taoist temple moved away early in the Tây Sơn period, and what stands now is the temple and then the pagoda that the hamlet built on the old site, with most of the objects dating from the 19th century.
The second point is the question of which Taoist deity the original temple worshipped. The library has found no source that answers it. Trấn Vũ quán and Huyền Thiên quán worship Huyền Thiên Trấn Vũ, Đế Thích quán worships Đế Thích, but for Đồng Thiên the present introductions say only that it was a Taoist temple. The library leaves that place blank rather than guessing from the temple's name.
IIFrom the Kim Cổ palace to a street pagoda
Kim Cổ is the name of an old hamlet of the capital. Hà Nội Mới records that it belonged to Tiền Túc canton, later renamed Thuận Mỹ canton, in Thọ Xương district. The pagoda today bears the name of the hamlet rather than the name of the quán, and that is how ordinary people record their own history. Those who stayed kept the site and the village name, while the name of the Taoist temple survives only in books.
- 11th centuryĐồng Thiên quán is foundedAccording to tradition, Royal Consort Ỷ Lan, wife of King Lý Thánh Tông, founded the temple within her palace grounds in Kim Cổ ward. No founding stele survives.
- 1117Ỷ Lan diesThe Empress Dowager Linh Nhân dies. This is a historical date, while her link with the temple is tradition.
- Early Tây Sơn periodThe quán moves to An Thái hamletAccording to Người Hà Nội and Kiến Thức, the Đồng Thiên Taoist temple moved away. The people of Kim Cổ hamlet built a temple to Ỷ Lan on the old site.
- 1859Enlargement under Tự ĐứcHà Nội Mới records that in this year the temple was enlarged and Buddha statues were added, and from then on it became a pagoda. The Kim Cổ hamlet stele, in the passage translated by Người Hà Nội, records that the work was begun and finished in the winter of the Kỷ Mùi year 1859 under Tự Đức.
- 1860The Kim Cổ hamlet stele is erectedThe 13th year of Tự Đức. The stele, composed by the doctoral laureate Lê Duy Trung, records the enlargement of the temple and notes that the official Bùi Thương Hán gave a hundred taels of silver.
- 1996Ranked as a national heritage siteThe Ministry of Culture and Information ranked it a national historical, architectural and artistic heritage site, according to Người Hà Nội, Kiến Thức and Thế giới Di sản.
A word on the two years 1859 and 1860. Hà Nội Mới records that the temple was enlarged in 1859, while the Kim Cổ hamlet stele carries the date of the 13th year of Tự Đức, that is 1860. The two years do not conflict. The passage of the stele translated by Người Hà Nội records that the work was begun and finished in the winter of the Kỷ Mùi year 1859, thanks to the official Bùi Thương Hán who gave a hundred taels of silver, and the stele was erected the following year to record it. In one place Hà Nội Mới gives the 13th year of Tự Đức as 1869, which is a copying error, since the 13th year of Tự Đức is 1860.
The second point is where the temple moved to. The sources say only An Thái hamlet, and do not say whether the temple there still stands or under what name. The library has no facts to join the two ends, so it writes nothing more.
IIIA three-bay building and the objects that remain
Kiến Thức describes the grounds as now only about 150 square meters, squeezed between shophouses. Người Hà Nội records that the pagoda was once larger, laid out in the shape of the character tam (三), and that after it was pulled down by the French the people contributed money to rebuild it, so that now only the gate, a narrow courtyard and the shrine buildings remain. Lao Động Thủ Đô describes the main building as a three-bay front hall with gable walls closing off the roof ends and a roof of traditional tiles, the familiar style of folk shrines in 19th-century northern Vietnam, with nothing in particular of a Taoist temple about it.
| Object | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Eight Buddha statues | 19th century | Người Hà Nội and Tuổi Trẻ assign them to 19th-century art without stating the material. Probably the layer of statues added under Tự Đức |
| Statue of Royal Consort Ỷ Lan | Unknown | Seated in a shrine cabinet, the object of worship particular to the Kim Cổ temple |
| Statues of the Mother Goddess and her attendants | Unknown | A layer of Mother Goddess worship added later, according to Lao Động Thủ Đô and Người Hà Nội |
| Three steles | Nguyễn period | Người Hà Nội gives three, Hà Nội Mới and Tuổi Trẻ give two stone steles. Among them is the Kim Cổ hamlet stele of 1860 |
| Bronze bell | Nguyễn period | Lao Động Thủ Đô records that the bell bears a Nguyễn reign name |
| Pair of ritual cranes | Unknown | Cranes standing on turtles, placed in the shrine area, according to Người Hà Nội. The source does not give the material |
So where does the Taoist mark remain? To be honest, almost nowhere in the architecture or the statues. It lies in the name Đồng Thiên, meaning one with heaven, a name with exactly the tone of a Taoist temple, and in the place among the four temples that the sources still keep for this site. The Chinese characters at the top of this page are written by the library after the name and have not been checked against the horizontal boards on site.
Some people look at the pair of ritual cranes and decide that they are surviving ritual objects of the Taoist temple, since the crane is the creature of the immortals. The library does not read it that way. Cranes are familiar ritual objects in a great many Vietnamese temples and shrines of every belief, and no source has dated the pair here. To call the cranes relics of the Lý-dynasty Đồng Thiên quán is to say more than the sources allow.
IVThe lie of the land and the facing
What follows is the library's attempt to place this site within traditional feng shui. No stele at the pagoda speaks of the lie of the land, and since the original temple moved away, there is no way of knowing on what grounds the people of the Lý period chose the site.
The first thing to say is that the original lie of the land is lost. A Taoist temple founded, according to tradition, within the palace grounds of a royal consort would surely have had gardens, a pond and enough open space around it. Those are gone. What you see today is a city lot, narrow at the front and short in depth, pressed in by tall buildings on both sides. This is purely urban ground, and the library does not read a dragon vein (long mạch) for it.
What can be read is its position relative to the citadel. The name Đường Thành, Citadel Road, recalls the road that ran along the wall of the Nguyễn-period Hanoi citadel. A place of worship at the foot of the old wall lies on the edge between the administrative quarter and the residential streets, and in traditional thinking such an edge is a place where qi meets. Perhaps this is also why a temple tied to the royal palace was carried on by the townspeople as a village temple. It had always stood where two worlds meet.
The last point is the qi of a small place. Traditional feng shui values not only wide places but places that gather. A narrow compound with surrounding walls, an inner courtyard and low roofs is a closed body that keeps warmth and quiet. The Kim Cổ Pagoda has no grand setting, but it has exactly that small gathering, and that is why a few steps inside are enough for the street to fall away.
VThe worship of a pagoda that is also a temple
The library has not found any source recording a festival day particular to the Kim Cổ Pagoda, so it does not invent one. Instead, the table below lists the altars that exist and the customs attached to each, as far as the sources introducing the site show.
| Altar | Who is worshipped | Custom | State of the sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buddha hall | Eight Buddha statues of the 19th century | Worship of the Buddha by the custom of northern Vietnamese pagodas | Sources on the statues, none on a particular festival day |
| Altar of Royal Consort Ỷ Lan | Empress Dowager Linh Nhân, worshipped in folk practice as the Bodhisattva Quán Âm | The worship of the Kim Cổ hamlet temple since the late 18th century | No anniversary rite at the pagoda found in the sources |
| Altar of the Mother Goddess and attendants | Statues of the Mother Goddess and her attendants | Mother Goddess rites by the common custom of city Mother Goddess shrines | Sources on the statues, none on dates |
Please also do not confuse this place with St Joseph Cathedral (Nhà thờ Lớn), about 270 meters away, a Catholic church with no connection to the four Taoist temples. The two are close only by road.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Số 73 phố Đường Thành, phường Hoàn Kiếm (phường Cửa Đông cũ, phần lớn nhập vào phường Hoàn Kiếm năm 2025, quận Hoàn Kiếm cũ), Hà Nội
- Getting there
- Số 73 phố Đường Thành, phường Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội (formerly Cửa Đông ward, most of which merged into Hoàn Kiếm ward in 2025, in the former Hoàn Kiếm district). The gate is very small, so walk slowly along the street to avoid missing it.
- Coordinates
- 21.0308, 105.8474
The pagoda is very small and the courtyard narrow, so the first custom is to come in small numbers and speak quietly. Visitors are expected to dress modestly and remove hats on entering the front hall. The shrine cabinet of Royal Consort Ỷ Lan is the particular place of worship of the old hamlet, and visitors are asked not to open it or touch the statue. Anyone wishing to see the stele of 1860 is asked to check with the pagoda's caretaker where it stands before going into the inner corners.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
Contribute photos, information or video for Dong Thien Temple (Kim Co Pagoda)
Góp ảnh, thông tin hoặc video cho Quán Đồng Thiên (Chùa Kim Cổ)Everyone is welcome to enrich this page: a photo you took, a detail the page misses, a short video. Every contribution is read and answered.
Thầy Ưng Khiêm mời cộng đồng cùng làm giàu trang này. Ảnh chụp tận nơi, một chi tiết lịch sử chưa được nhắc, một đoạn video ngắn: mọi đóng góp đều được đọc và trả lời.
No community contribution yet. You could be the first. Chưa có đóng góp nào từ cộng đồng. Bạn có thể là người đầu tiên.
?Quick Questions
Is the Kim Cổ Pagoda the same as Đồng Thiên quán
The Kim Cổ Pagoda stands on the old site of Đồng Thiên quán, one of the four Taoist temples of Thăng Long. But according to Người Hà Nội and Kiến Thức, the Taoist temple moved to An Thái hamlet early in the Tây Sơn period. The people of Kim Cổ hamlet built a temple to Ỷ Lan on the old site, and under Tự Đức Buddha statues were added and it became a pagoda.
Who is worshipped at the Kim Cổ Pagoda
The Buddha, with eight statues of the 19th century, and Empress Dowager Linh Nhân, Ỷ Lan, whom the people of Kim Cổ honored as the Bodhisattva Quán Âm, together with statues of the Mother Goddess and her attendants. Which Taoist deity the original temple worshipped is not clearly recorded in any source.
What is the link between Royal Consort Ỷ Lan and Đồng Thiên quán
According to tradition, King Lý Thánh Tông built a palace for Ỷ Lan in Kim Cổ ward and she founded Đồng Thiên quán there as a place of practice. That is how Kiến Thức tells it. Dân Việt says more briefly that she herself built the temple. No founding stele confirms the story.
What is there to see at the Kim Cổ Pagoda
The grounds are only about 150 square meters, but there remain eight Buddha statues of the 19th century, a statue of Ỷ Lan seated in a shrine cabinet, steles of the Nguyễn period including the one of 1860, a bronze bell and a pair of ritual cranes standing on turtles. The front hall has three bays, gable walls closing off the roof ends and a roof of traditional tiles.
Which temples make up the four Taoist temples of Thăng Long
Trấn Vũ quán, now Quán Thánh Temple, Huyền Thiên quán on Hàng Khoai Street, Đồng Thiên quán, now the Kim Cổ Pagoda, and Đế Thích quán, now Chùa Vua on Thịnh Yên Street. The library's page on Huyền Thiên Temple introduces the set in detail.