This pagoda was built on a strip of silt land by
Hanoi West Lake in Nghi Tam village. Today it is in Quang An village, Tay Ho district.
According to legend, the pagoda was built on the foundation of the former Từ Hoa Palace built in the Ly Dynasty. Princes Tu Hoa, daughter of King Ly Than Tong (1128-1138), and her attendants came to this area to grow mulberry, raise silkworms and establish the Tam Tang (silkworm and mulberry farm). This farm was later renamed Nghi Tam guild.
The pagoda was built in the 17th century. According to a stele erected in 1868 in the pagoda, the latter’s name was Dai Bi and it was built in 1631. Seven years later, with people’s donations the pagoda was enlarged. In 1771, Trinh Lord ordered Bảo Lâm Pagoda in the west of the Capital to be removed here, and he renamed it “Kim Liên”. The repairs in 1792 gave the pagoda the present architecture.
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| Kim Lien Pagoda |
It is now composed of three halls, each of which has two roof layers whose comers are gently curvy. Among the Buddhist statues, one deserves very much attention of historians. It depicts a middle-aged man with three- tufted beard, in a Buddhist frock, holding a card in his hand and weaving a mandarin’s hat. Some hold that he was one of the Trinh Lords but some think that he was a Buddhist monk who led his religious life in this pagoda after serving in the Trinh Lord’s Palace.
The statue is estimated to be over 200 years of age. Besides, in the central hall of the pagoda, there is a wooden lacquered board engraved with two Han characters Hoang Uan (meaning “widespread morality”, which was made in 1870. Another board engraved with the characters Liên Hoa Hai Hoi (scene of the happy life in the land of the Buddha) was made in 1930. Apart from its nice disposition, the pagoda has a gate of sophisticated, elegant and intricate architecture.
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