You enter through a newly built Văn miếu môn, the main gate, its materials still fresh and not yet touched by the color of time. At the end of the axis stands the Đại bái, the great hall of worship, with its large wooden columns. On either side are the Left and Right Cloisters (tả vu, hữu vu), together with two stele houses, a bell tower and a drum tower. Inside the Đại bái, beside the altar of Confucius, are five statues of Vietnamese men: a teacher, a third-ranked doctoral laureate, a physician, a scholar who lived in the mountains, and a poet.
Everything before your eyes is new, but the ground is not. This is the site of the Temple of Literature that Hà Tĩnh province built in 1833 in Hoàn village, Đông Lỗ commune, where the provincial officials and the students offered sacrifices to Confucius each spring and autumn. To read the place correctly, two figures have to be kept apart: 1833 is the age of the worship, while 2014 to 2023 is the age of the wood and stone.
IConfucius and the five famous men of Hồng Lam
The main altar holds Confucius together with the earlier worthies, following the common custom. According to a study published in the journal Văn học Nghệ thuật Hà Tĩnh, the Nguyễn-period temple honored Confucius, had an altar for the Four Correlates (Tứ phối) and the Seventy-two Worthies (Thất thập nhị hiền), and kept the two cloisters for the province's examination laureates. What sets the reconstruction apart is a second layer of worship: on 30 March 2019 the province held a ceremony to cast statues of five famous men to be placed in the Đại bái hall (Báo Hà Tĩnh).
The four Chinese characters at the top of this article are the library's own rendering of the place's name in Sino-Vietnamese, not copied from a hanging board or stele at the site.
| Famous man | Usual title | Why he stands in the temple |
|---|---|---|
| Chu Văn An | The teacher | The model teacher of Confucian learning in Đại Việt. He has no tie to Hà Tĩnh and stands here as the teacher of the whole country |
| Nguyễn Huy Oánh | Thám hoa, third-ranked doctoral laureate | A man of Trường Lưu village who passed the highest examination, opened a school and left many books |
| Lê Hữu Trác | The great physician Hải Thượng Lãn Ông | A physician who lived and practiced for most of his life in the Hương Sơn area, author of medical works, honored as one who put learning to the service of daily life |
| Nguyễn Thiếp | La Sơn phu tử, the Master of La Sơn | A scholar of Mount Thiên Nhẫn, the teacher whom the whole region took as the model of learning that keeps one's integrity |
| Nguyễn Du | The great poet | A man of Tiên Điền village, author of the Tale of Kiều, representing literature |
The sources differ on who is honored here, so both versions are given. Thanh Niên, quoting the Hà Tĩnh Department of Culture while the temple was being built, said it would honor Confucius together with famous men such as Chu Văn An, Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm and Nguyễn Du. The list of five whose statues were cast in 2019 does not include Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm and instead includes Nguyễn Huy Oánh, Lê Hữu Trác and Nguyễn Thiếp. This article follows the list of five statues, since that is what actually stands in the Đại bái hall. Readers looking for the shrine of Trạng Trình himself can see the article on the Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm Temple.
Placing a physician and a poet beside the altar of Confucius sounds strange at first, but it does not break the rules. Classical Confucianism had the practice of tòng tự, co-worship, allowing people who had served learning or the people of a region to be honored alongside. The learning that Confucians prized was learning to become fully human, not narrowly the examinations: medicine is the art of humaneness, and literature is where the Way is put into words. The Mao Điền Temple of Literature widens co-worship in the same way (see the article on the Mao Điền Temple of Literature). In Hà Tĩnh, choosing five different callings shows that the people of the province wanted to tell the story of their learning in many voices, not only through the lists of laureates.
For Lê Hữu Trác, this is only one of many places where he is honored. His tomb and memorial site in the former Hương Sơn area have their own article, see the Tomb and memorial site of Lê Hữu Trác. Đền Chợ Củi by the Lam River, by contrast, is a temple of the Holy Mother, a different tradition with no tie to the Temple of Literature.
IIFrom Hoàn village in 1833 to the new reconstruction
Hà Tĩnh was split from Nghệ An as a province of its own under Emperor Minh Mệnh, and only a few years later the new province had its own Temple of Literature. For a region with as deep a tradition of learning as Hồng Lĩnh, La Sơn and Can Lộc, a temple to Confucius in the provincial seat was something to be built early, because it was where the provincial officials led the sacrifices and where the names of the province's laureates were recorded.
- 1833The provincial temple is builtIn the 14th year of Minh Mệnh, the temple was built in Hoàn village, Đông Lỗ commune, on land that later belonged to Thạch Linh ward and is now in Thành Sen ward, Hà Tĩnh province (Báo Hà Tĩnh, Thanh Niên). It was the place of the spring and autumn sacrifices and of the steles listing the province's laureates.
- 20th centuryThe old buildings are lostThe wooden buildings of the Nguyễn-period temple were almost all lost and its objects scattered. The site kept its old foundations.
- 2010Reconstruction project approvedThe province approved a project to restore the temple and promote its heritage value on the old site, with an amended project approved in 2014 (Báo Hà Tĩnh, VnExpress).
- 2011Ranked as a provincial heritage siteBáo Văn Hóa gives 2011 as the year of ranking. The library has not found the decision number.
- 2014Construction beginsThe former Hà Tĩnh city began construction. Tạp chí Kiến trúc Việt Nam reports a design of 19 structures in two zones, one for worship and one for community activities.
- 2019Statues of the five famous men are castOn 30 March 2019 a ceremony was held to cast statues of the five famous men for the Đại bái hall (Báo Hà Tĩnh).
- 202311 structures completedBáo Văn Hóa reports that 11 structures of the temple were completed in 2023, including newly erected laureate steles.
- 2024 and 2025The Temple of Literature festivalThe provincial portal calls the 2024 festival the third year since the city revived it, and Báo Hà Tĩnh calls the 2025 festival the fourth. In 2025 the festival ran from the 15th to the 17th day of the 2nd lunar month (Báo Hà Tĩnh).
On three points the sources do not agree, and the library says so plainly.
Area of the old site. Báo Hà Tĩnh gives the grounds of the Nguyễn-period temple as 5,000 square meters, while the study in Văn học Nghệ thuật Hà Tĩnh gives about 2,500 square meters. One may count the garden and the other only the worship area, but no source explains how it measured.
Area of the reconstruction. The figures range from 1.6 hectares (Thanh Niên) and 1.67 hectares (Báo Hà Tĩnh, Văn học Nghệ thuật Hà Tĩnh) to nearly 1.7 hectares (Báo Hà Tĩnh, 2025) and more than 16,500 square meters (Tạp chí Kiến trúc Việt Nam). These figures are close and differ mainly in rounding.
Year the festival was revived. An article in Báo Văn Hóa in 2024 describes that year's festival as something new and unfamiliar, a name the writer was reading for the first time. The Hà Tĩnh provincial portal, however, calls the 2024 festival the third year since the city revived it, and Báo Hà Tĩnh calls the 2025 festival the fourth. By these two sources the festival was revived from about 2022.
An article in Tạp chí Kiến trúc Việt Nam says the temple was built in the 14th year of Minh Mệnh (1883). The year 1883 is a typing error. Minh Mệnh reigned from 1820 to 1841, so his 14th year must be 1833, as the other sources give it. Wherever you meet the figure 1883, read it as 1833.
The second misunderstanding concerns the age of the buildings. The temple is nearly two hundred years old, but none of the buildings before your eyes is that old. Every structure was built from 2014 onward. Saying so takes nothing away from the place of worship. It simply lets you know that you are looking at an old site carrying a new frame.
The third concerns the name. Hà Tĩnh also has the remains of another Temple of Literature in Đông Văn hamlet, Kỳ Tân commune, in the former Kỳ Anh district, also built in the Nguyễn period. Today it keeps its three-entrance gate (tam quan) and a stone stele, and in 2019 the villagers built a new upper hall on the old foundations (Báo Hà Tĩnh, Đại Đoàn Kết). That is a different place, not the provincial temple in Hoàn village.
IIIThe old layout and the new
Since the old buildings no longer stand, the most sensible way to read the architecture here is to set two layers side by side: the layer that records still describe, and the layer that stands today.
According to the study in Văn học Nghệ thuật Hà Tĩnh, the Nguyễn-period temple opened with a three-entrance gate (tam quan) about five meters tall, with wooden columns. From the gate a stone-paved path led to a half-moon pond. The main building was the Thượng đường, the upper hall, three bays wide, with a double roof of interlocking yin-yang tiles, a ridge decorated with dragons and phoenixes, and wooden columns carved with the dragon, unicorn, tortoise and phoenix. On either side stood the Left Cloister and the Right Cloister, where the province's laureates were honored. Tạp chí Kiến trúc Việt Nam, on the other hand, says the temple at first had only a single thatched building, was gradually improved, and by 1945 had become a fairly large complex. The two descriptions do not agree on its size, and the library records both.
The main gate of the reconstruction, with side gates on both flanks and a rear gate, according to the list of structures given by Tạp chí Kiến trúc Việt Nam.
The largest building, holding the altar of Confucius and the five statues of famous men. Thanh Niên reports that the round columns of the complex are made of ironwood (lim) brought from Laos, and that carpenters from Bắc Ninh were brought in to do the carving.
Two facing ranges on either side of the courtyard, keeping the position of the two cloisters of the old temple.
Part of the 19-structure design (Thanh Niên, Tạp chí Kiến trúc Việt Nam). By the custom of temples of literature it honors the parents of Confucius and stands behind the main axis. The list of 11 completed structures given by Báo Văn Hóa does not yet include it.
Holds the newly erected laureate steles listing the examination graduates of Hà Tĩnh. The library has not found any old stele of the Nguyễn-period temple still kept on site.
Part of the 19-structure design, in the community zone, intended to display records of the province's tradition of learning and to serve the festival. The list of 11 completed structures given by Báo Văn Hóa does not yet include it.
Set the two layers side by side and the new complex is many times larger than the old site, and its design includes structures that the records of the old temple do not mention, such as the exhibition house. The half-moon pond of the old temple has been remade in the new one (Báo Văn Hóa). The three-bay Thượng đường described in the study suggests a fairly compact provincial temple, although Tạp chí Kiến trúc Việt Nam says that by 1945 it had become a large complex.
IVThe lie of the land and the facing
What is written in the box below is the library's reading of the land through the eyes of traditional feng shui. The records of the 1833 temple say nothing about why the site was chosen or which way the temple faced, so this is a reasoned interpretation, not something taken from the heritage file.
To read the land here, begin with the position of Hoàn village in relation to the provincial seat. The temple was placed in a village on the edge of the provincial citadel rather than among the government offices. That choice is familiar in the old way of thinking: a place honoring learning needs to be near the seat of government so the provincial officials can easily lead the rites, but apart from markets and residences to keep its stillness. A moderate distance, near enough for convenience and far enough to keep its solemnity, is the right standing for a temple of letters.
Second is the half-moon pond that the records describe in the old temple. A half-moon pond in front of the hall of worship is what traditional feng shui calls a bright hall with gathered water (minh đường có thủy tụ), an open space in front where water collects. For a Temple of Literature, still water is read not as wealth but as clarity and stillness, suited to study. The half-moon shape has its own meaning too: a crescent is a moon still growing, like a learner not yet complete who must keep building.
Third is the wider land. Hà Tĩnh is a narrow plain pressed between the Trường Sơn range to the west and the sea to the east, with mountains and water both close at hand. In the reading of land, such a region offers support and gathering on a large scale, and the people here like to say that their land of learning is bound to Mount Hồng and the Lam River. That is a way of speaking from literature more than from geography.
Finally, one thing should be said plainly. The reconstruction today is several times larger than the old site and its layout was redrawn on the standard plan of a Temple of Literature, so the facing and axis seen now are the choice of present-day designers. What has been kept from 1833 is the ground itself, and in the traditional view, ground once used for worship keeps the mark of that worship.
VSpring and autumn sacrifices and the 2nd-month festival
The Nguyễn-period temple kept the spring and autumn sacrifices, twice a year. The present festival is held around the middle of the 2nd lunar month. In 2024 it ran from 23 to 25 March, that is, from the 14th to the 16th day of the 2nd lunar month (Hà Tĩnh provincial portal), and in 2025 from the 15th to the 17th day of the 2nd lunar month (Báo Hà Tĩnh). The exact dates change each year, so the table below gives only the time of month.
| Lunar timing | Event | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Spring and autumn | Spring and autumn sacrifices | The sacrifice to Confucius and the earlier worthies at the provincial temple since the Nguyễn period, twice a year. |
| Mid 2nd month | Rites of the Temple of Literature festival | Incense offered to the earlier worthies, a procession of offering trays, sacrifices to famous cultural figures, and the offering of the Four Treasures of the Study, brush, paper, ink and inkstone. |
| Mid 2nd month | Festivities | Displays of books, newspapers and photos, gifts of calligraphy, a handwriting contest, folk games and an evening of poetry and music. |
The rite of offering the Four Treasures of the Study deserves attention. At temples and palaces of the Holy Mother, the offerings are incense, flowers, sticky rice cakes and fruit. At the Hà Tĩnh Temple of Literature, the four valued offerings are brush, paper, ink and inkstone, the very tools of the learner. The handwriting contest in the festivities follows the same thread: what is honored here is the act of taking up the brush.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Phường Thành Sen (phường Thạch Linh cũ, thành phố Hà Tĩnh cũ), tỉnh Hà Tĩnh. Đất gốc thuộc làng Hoàn, xã Đông Lỗ xưa
- Getting there
- In Thành Sen ward, Hà Tĩnh province, on the land of Hoàn village in the old Đông Lỗ commune, later Thạch Linh ward. On 1 January 2025 Thạch Linh was merged into the former Trần Phú ward, and on 1 July 2025 that former Trần Phú ward was merged into Thành Sen ward. The present Trần Phú ward is a different ward. The approach is along Văn Miếu Road.
- Coordinates
- 18.3507, 105.881
The Temple of Literature follows the customs of Confucian worship, not those of temples and palaces of the Holy Mother. Visitors are expected not to place meat offerings or burn votive paper at the altar of Confucius or the altars of the famous men. The fitting offerings here are incense, flowers and tea, and during the festival brush, ink, paper and inkstone. Visitors are expected to dress modestly, remove hats on entering the Đại bái hall, and not touch the statues or the laureate steles.
Nearby places in the library
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?Quick Questions
Who is worshipped at the Hà Tĩnh Temple of Literature
Confucius together with the earlier worthies, following the custom of temples of literature, and five famous men whose statues were cast in 2019 for the Đại bái hall: Chu Văn An, the Thám hoa Nguyễn Huy Oánh, the great physician Lê Hữu Trác, La Sơn phu tử Nguyễn Thiếp and the great poet Nguyễn Du. An older news report also named Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm in the planned list.
When was the Hà Tĩnh Temple of Literature built
The temple was founded in the 14th year of Minh Mệnh, that is 1833, in Hoàn village, Đông Lỗ commune. The old buildings were almost all lost. The buildings you see today were begun in 2014, and 11 structures were completed in 2023. Some pages wrongly give the year 1883, which is a typing error.
Which ward is the Hà Tĩnh Temple of Literature in
Thành Sen ward, Hà Tĩnh province. The original land was Hoàn village in the old Đông Lỗ commune, later Thạch Linh ward of the former Hà Tĩnh city. Thạch Linh was merged into Trần Phú ward on 1 January 2025, and that Trần Phú ward was merged into Thành Sen ward on 1 July 2025, so news reports from early 2025 still give Trần Phú ward.
When is the Hà Tĩnh Temple of Literature festival
The present festival is held around the middle of the 2nd lunar month and lasts about three days. In 2025 it ran from the 15th to the 17th day of the 2nd lunar month, with sacrifices to the earlier worthies, the offering of the Four Treasures of the Study, calligraphy, a handwriting contest and folk games.
Is the Temple of Literature in Kỳ Anh the same as the Hà Tĩnh Temple of Literature
No. In Đông Văn hamlet, Kỳ Tân commune, in the former Kỳ Anh district, there are the remains of another Temple of Literature, also built in the Nguyễn period, which today keeps its three-entrance gate, a stone stele and an upper hall newly built in 2019. The Hà Tĩnh Temple of Literature is the provincial temple in Hoàn village near the provincial seat, and the two are not the same place.