Relics of King Le temple: historical values and conservation and promotion

– Le King Temple located Hoang Dong Commune is one of the typical relics of Lang Son city worshiping King Le Thai To (Le Loi) with historical and cultural values. Over the years, in order to preserve and promote the values of this relic, the People’s Committee of Hoang Dong commune has taken many positive solutions to gradually meet the needs of people and tourists.

In the last days of May 2021, we went to Le King temple in Hoang Tan village, Hoang Dong commune. The spaciousness, cleanliness and dignified worship of the temple show local people’s respect for ancestors.

Mr. Le Dieu Minh, Deputy Head of the Temple’s Management Board said: The temple is of great significance and is a spiritual fulcrum for people here. Every day we take turns to clean the temple and burn incense. Every two or three years we spend about 10 million VND collected from charity to redecorate the temple.

According to historical documents, this temple was originally a small shrine to worship the village’s lord. In 1924, the Nguyen Dinh family repaired and turned it into a place of worship for King Le Thai To  King (Le Loi) because the ancestor of this family (Nguyen The Chuong was a resident of Duc Quang in Nghe An province) was a general who followed Le Loi during the Lam Son fighting to chase the Ming invaders and was given a decree to stay only in Lang Son. Generation after generation, they settled down in Hoang Dong commune, Thot Lang Chau (now Hoang Dong commune, Lang Son city) and this area became their homeland.

It is a legend that after the victory over the Ming army at Chi Lang Paisley, the location of the temple was the place where Le Loi instructed mandarins, soldiers, and generals before becoming the emperor. The present temple is built of bricks, roofed with yin and yang tiles, with an area of ​​​​about 30 m2, with a structure in the shape of a letter (=) including Tien Te – The Front Room (the place to welcome guests) and the Hau palace -The back room (the place used to worship King Le Loi and his courtiers).

Members of Le King Temple’s Management Board studying the ordination of King Khai Dinh at them Temple

As the unit is responsible for directly managing the relic of King Le temple over the years, the People’s Committee of Hoang Dong commune has proposed and applied many positive solutions to contribute to the preservation and promotion of the relic’s value. Specifically, in 2018, the Commune People’s Committee repaired and embellished the roof system in front of the harem with a total expenditure of nearly 200 million VND; Issued Decision No. 142/QD-UBND to strengthen the Temple Management Board consisting of 9 members, of which Mr. Vice Chairman of the Commune People’s Committee is the head of the committee; propagated the values of the temple on the commune’s website; directed the village to increase propaganda activities on the meaning and values of the relic thereby raising people’s awareness of protecting and promoting this heritage value.

Mr. Hoang Quoc Thanh, Vice Chairman of Hoang Dong Commune People’s Committee, Head of the Management Board of Le King Temple said: As it is the only relic located in the commune, we will continue to study to develop a plan with many specific solutions for better conservation in the coming time, The Commune People’s Committee will continue to work with the temple’s management board to mobilize social resources to embellish and repair the degraded items of the temple. At the same time, we will coordinate with schools in the area to organize educational tours for students to learn, and develop content to put in propaganda, making  contribution to educating people of local historical traditions.

With the mentioned values, Le King Temple has really become an important religious and spiritual address and a place of traditional and historical education in Hoang Dong commune in particular, and Lang Son city. Therefore, the preservation and promotion of the historical and cultural values ​​of this relic is an important and meaningful job which will definitely contribute to the preservation, inspiration and education of traditional values ​​to our future generations.

Over the time, Le King temple stores a number of valuable relics such as: 2 ordinations of King Thanh Thai (1901), 2 ordinations of King Duy Tan (1907), 1 ordination of King Khai Dinh (1916), a number of other worshiping statues, diaphragms and couplets… The temple has been ranked as a provincial relic since 2002. It is recorded that the temple welcomes 1,500 people and tourists every year. The temple’s traditional festival takes place annually on January 23 with many special ceremonies and games.