In the afternoons in the Văn Miếu park, the people of Cao Lãnh walk around the ponds, children run along the grassy paths, and the old sit under the trees. In the middle of that green space stands a modest tiled temple. Many people pass it every day and seldom step inside. Inside, in the central bay, there is no statue, only a gilded spirit tablet and four smaller tablets on either side.
This is the Cao Lãnh Văn Thánh Miếu, the Temple of Literature of the old Kiến Tường prefecture. It has no doctoral steles, no book pavilion, no broad courtyard. What makes it notable lies elsewhere: a Temple of Literature finished in under five months, moved once, then standing still in the middle of town for more than a hundred and forty years, changing its uses without losing its altar.
IThe spirit tablets of Confucius and the Four Correlates
According to the website of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese (Ủy ban Nhà nước về người Việt Nam ở nước ngoài), when the temple was first built the central bay held the spirit tablet of Confucius, lacquered red and gilded, bearing the title Vạn Thế Sư Biểu, teacher and model for ten thousand generations. On either side were the tablets of the Four Correlates, which that source calls the four sages: Zengzi (Tăng Tử), Yan Hui (Nhan Hồi), Zisi (Tử Tư) and Mencius (Mạnh Tử). The Left and Right Cloisters honored the earlier worthies and later worthies. Such a compact main altar suits the scale of a prefecture-level temple, without the Ten Philosophers found in provincial temples.
The three Chinese characters at the top of this article are the library's own rendering of the name in Sino-Vietnamese, not copied from any signboard the library has been able to check.
Honoring through a spirit tablet rather than a statue is the way closest to Confucian ritual. In Confucian thought, the spirit tablet, or thần chủ, is where the spirit of the person honored comes to rest, and the writing on it is a name and title, with no need of a likeness. This way stresses the written word over the image, fitting a tradition rooted in the study of letters. You can compare it with the Tam Kỳ Văn Thánh Khổng Miếu, where the main hall holds a statue of Confucius in the pose of a teacher giving a lesson. Both ways are found among the văn thánh of Vietnam.
The man behind the founding of the temple was Hồ Trọng Đính, prefect of Kiến Tường. According to the website of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, he proposed it and took charge of building it. Nhân Dân calls him Doctor (Tiến sĩ) Hồ Trọng Đính. This is a prefecture-level Temple of Literature: not built by the court like the Temple of Literature in the capital, nor a provincial temple, but one that the head of the prefecture and the scholars of the area undertook themselves.
IIUnder five months to build, and one move
Few temples of literature have their start and completion recorded to the exact day as this one does. That detail shows that building the temple in 1857 was an organized undertaking with someone keeping records, not a village shrine built up gradually over the years.
- 1857Built in Mỹ Trà hamletWork began on the 4th day of the 6th lunar month and was completed on the 28th day of the 10th lunar month of the Đinh Tỵ year, in Mỹ Trà hamlet, Kiến Phong district, in the old Định Tường province, at the proposal of the prefect Hồ Trọng Đính (State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, Nhân Dân).
- 1878Moved to the present siteThe temple was moved to its present site on Lý Thường Kiệt Street and rebuilt on a grander scale (State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, Nhân Dân).
- 1935 to 1940Major repairs, a library opensThe temple was restored and the worship rearranged within the main hall. The Left Cloister became a library and the Right Cloister a meeting place for a poetry society, where lovers of poetry discussed Eastern philosophy and kept up the Confucian way.
- 1951Activity ceasesFrom 1951 the temple ceased its activities and lay abandoned for a long time.
- 1995 to 2014Seat of the provincial libraryThe Đồng Tháp Provincial Library had its headquarters here (Nhân Dân).
- 2001Provincial heritage siteRanked as a provincial historical and cultural heritage site (Nhân Dân). A Mekong travel page records that the Đồng Tháp Provincial People's Committee issued the decision on 20 April 2001. The library has not found the decision number.
- TodayAn exhibition spaceNhân Dân reports that the temple is now used by a provincial historical science association as a space displaying material on local history and life.
Two points need to be made clear.
Time taken to build. The sources give only the day work began and the day it was finished. From the 4th day of the 6th lunar month to the 28th day of the 10th lunar month of the Đinh Tỵ year is under five months, about four months and twenty-four days.
Present use. Many introductions still say the temple serves as a library. According to Nhân Dân, the provincial library had its headquarters here only from 1995 to 2014, and the temple is now used as an exhibition space. Visitors should treat descriptions of the library as belonging to one period.
This is the easiest point to get wrong when looking up this place. Some travel pages write about the Cao Lãnh Temple of Literature but copy details of the Vĩnh Long Văn Thánh Miếu: a two-story pavilion called the Văn Xương Các, the Tụy Văn Lâu, a start of work in the Giáp Tý year 1864 and completion in the Bính Dần year 1866, national ranking in 1991, a memorial rite in the 7th month. All of these belong to Vĩnh Long.
The Cao Lãnh Văn Thánh Miếu is quite a different place: built in 1857, nine years earlier than Vĩnh Long, a smaller prefecture-level temple, with no book pavilion, and a provincial heritage site. The two names are alike because both use the term văn thánh miếu, a usual way of naming such temples in southern Vietnam.
IIIA small temple in the middle of a park
Official sources say rather little about the architecture of this place, and the library records only what has a source. The present temple is the building rebuilt in 1878 when it was moved to its new site, and it went through major repairs from 1935 to 1940. In 2011 the city restored the temple following its old architecture and remade the tablets of the earlier worthies (according to a Mekong travel page). The sources describe the temple as having a main hall together with Left and Right Cloisters. When it was first built, the central bay of the main hall held the tablet of Confucius, with the tablets of the Four Correlates on either side.
The gilded tablet of Confucius stands in the center. There is no statue, in keeping with the Confucian ritual practice of honoring through a spirit tablet.
Four tablets, of Zengzi, Yan Hui, Zisi and Mencius, set to either side of the main altar (State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese).
From the repairs of 1935 to 1940, the Left Cloister was used as a library and the Right Cloister as a meeting place for the poetry society, and later the provincial library had its headquarters here.
The setting around the temple, about 12 hectares, of which about 4 hectares are water and 8 hectares lawns, walkways and flower beds, with about 700 trees (Nhân Dân).
A provincial Temple of Literature such as the one at Vĩnh Long has a spirit way, two cloisters and a book pavilion. The prefecture temple at Cao Lãnh has only the core: a main hall holding the altar of tablets, and two cloisters. That compactness is not a shortcoming but true to its rank. What is remarkable is that this small temple, rather than some grand building, has given its name to a whole large park in the middle of the city.
IVThe lie of the land and the facing
None of the sources the library has read records why the site was chosen in 1878 or which way the temple faces. The box below is the library's reading of the present landscape through the eyes of traditional feng shui, offered for comparison, not to be taken as a historical record.
To be candid first: this is an urban site. The temple stands in the middle of the city with streets and houses on every side, and the landscape around it is mostly a park made in later times, not the scene of 1878. The library does not force a reading of a dragon vein (long mạch) here.
What can still be read is the water. The Văn Miếu park has about 4 hectares of water out of about 12 hectares in all (Nhân Dân), so nearly a third is ponds. On the Đồng Tháp plain, which has no mountains, water is what traditional feng shui relies on to read where qi gathers. A small temple surrounded by plenty of water is, in that reading, held by the water, so that its qi does not scatter.
The second point is the trees. About 700 trees in the park form a green ring around the temple. In the traditional way of thinking, large trees around a place of worship both shelter it from the wind and thicken the qi of the spot, which is why many communal houses and temples in southern Vietnam guard their ancient trees closely. Here the ring of trees is younger than the temple, but it is doing just that.
The last point is the relation between the temple and people. Nhân Dân calls the park the green lung of the city. A Temple of Literature standing alone on a mound is still but deserted. A Temple of Literature in the middle of where people stroll every afternoon is still within and alive without. Read in the old way, that too is a configuration: a place honoring learning that is not cut off from everyday life.
VThe old rites and the uses the temple has served
As a Temple of Literature, this place once followed the custom of sacrifices to Confucius. But the temple ceased its activities in 1951, and the library has not found any source recording rites held today or their exact lunar dates. The table below therefore does not give festival days but the uses the temple has served in each period, which is the truest way to read the life of this place.
| Period | Use of the temple | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| From 1857 | Place honoring Confucius and the Four Correlates for the prefecture | Following the custom of temples of literature, this was where prefecture officials and scholars performed the rite of honoring the teacher. |
| From 1935 to 1940 | Library and meeting place of the poetry society | Lovers of poetry met to discuss Eastern philosophy and keep up the Confucian way. |
| From 1951 | Activity ceases | The sources give the year but no exact date. |
| From 1995 to 2014 | Seat of the provincial library | According to Nhân Dân. |
| Today | Space displaying historical material | Set in the Văn Miếu park, where local people are used to strolling. |
Looking at the whole table, one common thread appears: from honoring the teacher, to keeping books, to displaying records, the temple has changed its work, but every task has revolved around letters and learning. Also in Đồng Tháp is Kiến An Cung in Sa Đéc, some twenty-odd kilometers away, an assembly hall of Chinese of Fujian origin, a different religion, mentioned only so that you know of it if you are making the same trip.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Đường Lý Thường Kiệt, trong Công viên Văn Miếu, phường Cao Lãnh (Phường 1 cũ, thành phố Cao Lãnh cũ), tỉnh Đồng Tháp
- Getting there
- On Lý Thường Kiệt Street, in the Văn Miếu park, Cao Lãnh ward, Đồng Tháp province, on the land of the former Ward 1 of the former Cao Lãnh city. Within walking distance of the town center.
- Coordinates
- 10.4615, 105.6351
The temple stands in a park, so the paths around it are open to all, but on entering the hall of worship visitors are expected to keep the customs of a Temple of Literature: walk softly, speak quietly, remove hats, and not touch the tablets or the displayed material. A place honoring Confucius takes no meat offerings and no burning of votive paper. The fitting offerings are a stick of incense, a bunch of flowers or a cup of tea.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
Contribute photos, information or video for Cao Lanh Temple of Literature
Góp ảnh, thông tin hoặc video cho Văn Thánh Miếu Cao LãnhEveryone 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.
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?Quick Questions
Who is worshipped at the Cao Lãnh Văn Thánh Miếu
Confucius, through a gilded spirit tablet in the central bay, with the tablets of the Four Correlates, Zengzi, Yan Hui, Zisi and Mencius, on either side. The temple honors through tablets rather than statues, a compact order of worship true to a prefecture-level Temple of Literature.
When was the Cao Lãnh Văn Thánh Miếu built
The temple was built from the 4th day of the 6th to the 28th day of the 10th lunar month of the Đinh Tỵ year, that is 1857, in Mỹ Trà hamlet, at the proposal of the prefect Hồ Trọng Đính. In 1878 it was moved to its present site on Lý Thường Kiệt Street.
Is the Cao Lãnh Văn Thánh Miếu the same as the Vĩnh Long Văn Thánh Miếu
No. They are two different places. Cao Lãnh is a prefecture-level Temple of Literature built in 1857, a provincial heritage site. Vĩnh Long is a provincial Temple of Literature built from 1864 to 1866, with the Văn Xương Các pavilion, a national heritage site. Some travel pages mix up the details of the two.
Is the Cao Lãnh Văn Thánh Miếu still a library
According to Nhân Dân, the Đồng Tháp Provincial Library had its headquarters in the temple from 1995 to 2014. Earlier, from the repairs of 1935 to 1940, part of the temple was used as a library and a meeting place for a poetry society. Today the temple is used as a space displaying historical material.
How large is the Văn Miếu park in Cao Lãnh
According to Nhân Dân, the park covers about 12 hectares, including about 4 hectares of water and 8 hectares of lawns, walkways and flower beds, with about 700 trees. The temple stands in the middle of the park and gave the whole area its name.