That the capital city was a seat of high learning for centuries is attested to by the Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature – Imperial Academy) an invaluable cultural and historical legacy
The Temple of Literature was established in 1070 under the reign of King Ly Thanh Tong (1054 – 1072). Ti was first built to worship Confucius, its sages and philosophers and later acted as a royal school, where King Ly Nhan Tong studied when he was five years old prince.
The imperial Academy, which can be considered Vietnam, s first university, was built in 10 76 next to the temple. Over the next seven centuries and more, the university produced thousands of scholars for the country. Under the reign of King of Tran Minh Tong (1314-1329), teacher Chu Van An, who passed the doctoral examination, was appointed the school’s principal. After his death in 1370, King Tran Nghe Tong (1321- 1394) had him worshiped beside Confucius at the Temple of Literature. Many schools in Vietnam are also named after Chu Van An.
In 1805, Nguyen Van Thanh, The commander of The Northern Citadel, Built the Khue Van Cac (Constellation of Literature), a large pavilion in the temple. The Imperial Academy was then a district school, and the Khai Thanh Temple, dedicated to the memory of Confucius ‘parents, was built here.
In 1946, the Imperial Academy in Hanoi was destroyed by French bombing, but gradually restored later. In 1999, the Hanoi administration built two wooden houses here. One of them is used for displaying the country’s traditional values of education and holding seminars. The other is for worshipping Chu Van An, and displaying items of the ancient Temple of Literature – Imperial academy.
To enter the main area of the Temple of Literature, visitors must go through three gates. The first gate, called Van Mieu Mon, has three doors. The second is called Dai Trung Mon and the third, Dai Thanh Mon.
In the space between DaiTtrung Mon and Dai Thanh Mon is the one story, two roof pavilion call Khue Van Cac. The ground floor has four pillars with sophisticated carvings on each side. One the first floor, the four walls have wooden rims, and carry carvings of gold rimmed Chinese parallel sentences. In the past, Khue Van Cac was a place for scholar’s examination.
Behind Khue Van Cac is the Thien Quang Tinh ( Well of Heavenly Clarity)., on either side of which 41 stones steles stand in two rows. They stand upon stone turtles and are in scribed with the names and birthplaces of successful doctoral candidates from the triennial examinations held at the Imperial Academy from 1484 to 1780.
Now a major tourist site, the Temple of literature – Imperial Academy also hosts award ceremonies to recognize outstanding students. An annual poetry festival is held here on the 15th of the first lunar month.
High school students descend on the temple every summer to pray for luck before sitting for the annual university examinations
This article is written by David Nguyen from Vacations to Vietnam
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