Ky Cung Temple – A spiritual destination in the journey to explore Xu Lang

Lang Son, the land of wonders, where many unique historical, cultural and religious values coverge. During the journey to explore Xu Lang, tourists shouldn’t miss Ky Cung Temple as a national relic, located along the poetic Ky Cung River.

It is written in some documents that Ky Cung temple (Vinh Trai ward, Lang Son city) was built around the Later Le dynasty, started as a small temple worshiping Giao Long (scaled dragon) God as known as Ky Cung River God. Through historical times, currently, the temple worships Quan Tranh Venerable Mandarins, a general in the Tran dynasty who was sent to Lang Son to help the people fight against the Northern invader. The book “Dai Nam Nhat Thong Chi” (Dai Nam Comprehensive Encyclopaedia) of the National History Office of the Nguyen Dynasty records about Ky Cung temple as follows: “Ky Cung temple on the left bank of Ky Cung river in Vinh Trai commune, Thoat Lang district has a scaled dragon that has become a god digging a cave there. The temple is very sacred and has been conferred many times. Any Vietnamese missions coming to China first made the announcement here, then crossed the river by boat to reach China.”

According to folklore, in the past, it was just a small temple built on the bank of the river to worship the river god. People around the area came to worship and introduced about it to others, then many visitors came to worship and donate to build a gradually larger temple. Over time, Ky Cung temple has been restored and embellished many times according to Thanh Pagoda’s stele (Dien Khanh temple’s inscription – built in the fall of the Dragon year, the 4th Canh Thinh dynasty (1796) recording in the repairing section “…rebuilding the two rooms of Ky Cung temple, roofing it with tiles, elevating the temple in a new style…” The next recorded restoration was in the year of the Goat, the 6th Bao Dai’s reign (1931) led by Tran Xuan Vinh.

Ky Cung Temple Festival

Through the ups and downs of history, Ky Cung Temple has always existed with the times and become a spiritual and cultural location for local people and tourists. Currently, the temple’s architecture follows the style of “工” with 7 compartments at the font and 3 at the back. The temple also preserves a number of precious artifacts such as the great board “the God appears in the Dragon’a palace” in the 44th year of Le Canh Hung’s reign (1783); the investiture in the 9th year of King Khai Dinh’s reign (1924); the stone stele established in the year of the Goat, the 6th year of Bao Dai’s reign (1931)… In 1993, the temple was ranked as a national relic by the Ministry of Culture and Information (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism). In 2015, Ky Cung – Ta Phu temple festival was included in the list of national intangible cultural heritage.

Ms. Pham Tuyet Le, Deputy Head of the Relic Management Board of Vinh Trai ward, Head of the Standing Committee of Ky Cung Temple Management said: “For our people, Ky Cung Temple has great significance. That’s why, every day, we, 5 people, regularly clean and take care of the altar. When tourists come to visit and worship, members of the committee remind and guide them to comply with the code of conduct, follow civilized lifestyle at the relic and burn the paper money in the right place without burinng incense indiscriminately…”

On the government side, recently, the City People’s Committee has implemented many positive solutions to preserve and promote this valuable relic such as requesting specialized divisions to zone and issue land use rights certificate for Ky Cung temple relic with an area of 2,359.3 m2; assigned the Division of Culture and Information to guide the People’s Committees of Vinh Trai and Hoang Van Thu wards to carry out the management and protection of the relic. In addition, in 2018, the Ky Cung temple relic in Vinh Trai ward was renovated and expanded from 285 m2 to 487.3 m2 (up 202.3 m2) with a cost of nearly 20 billion VND from socialization sources.

Along with the preservation of the relic, the promotion of festivals associated with the relic has also received attention from the City People’s Committee. For example, every year, the City People’s Committee issues documents to guide, direct, and strengthen state management of organizing festivals in accordance with local traditional culture. In particular, in March 2022, the City People’s Committee issued Plan No. 102/KH-UBND on implementing the Project to preserve and promote the value of national intangible cultural heritage of Ky Cung – Ta Phu Temple Festival in Lang Son city in the period 2021-2025, oriented to 2030.

Mr. Tran Lenh Truong, Head of the Culture and Information Division of Lang Son city, said: “Ky Cung temple relic is the pride of the cultural heritage of the city in particular and Lang Son province in general. In the coming time, we will continue to perform good management, preservation and promotion of the relic’s value, and additionally introduce about it in other futher diverse and attractive forms”