Ly Trieu Quoc Su Pagoda

Ly Quoc Su Pagoda is located at 50 Ly Quoc Su Street in Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem District. The Pagoda is dedicated to a Buddhist Monk from the Ly Dynasty (the 10th 12th centuries). This monk, whose full name was Nguyen Chi Thanh, was born in Dien Xa Village, Gia Vien District, Ninh Binh Province, in the year 1066, during the reign of King Ly Thanh Tong.

In 1077, at the age of 11, Nguyen Chi Thanh began training to become a Buddhist monk and was instructed by the renowned monk Tu Dao Hanh. According to mythology, Monk Tu Dao Hanh was knowledgeable about Buddhism and skilled in healing. He loved and respected the skill and virtue of Nguyen Chi Thanh. In 1138, when he was in his seventies, Monk Nguyen Chi Thanh cured King Ly Than Tong of a condition that had eluded many renowned physicians. The King bestowed upon him the honorific Ly Quoc Su, which means Great Monk and Teacher of the Nation’s Merit, in recognition of his virtuosity and skill.

Next to Bao Thien Pagoda in the heart of Thang Long Capital, on one side of Luc Thuy Lake, the King gifted Ly Quoc Su with a tranquil residential quarter (Hoan Kiem Lake of today). This pagoda featured a twelve-story tower. In addition to preaching Buddhist sutra to the monks and nuns, Ly Quoc Su taught medicine, the prescription of medicines, and demotic scripts to a large number of people in the temple and its environs. Ly Quoc Su, who was skilled in bronze casting, also trained other bronze casting artisans.

In 1141, when Ly Quoc Su passed away at Giao Thuy Pagoda in Nam Dinh at the age of 75, King Ly Anh Tong (reigning from 1138 to 1175) had a temple erected directly atop the residential section where he had lived. Giao Thuy Pagoda in Nam Dinh and Keo Pagoda in Thai Binh are two examples of pagodas that worship both Buddha and Ly Quoc Su, who is revered as the patron saint of bronze casting.

Ly Quoc Su Pagoda has been restored and redecorated numerous times, with the most extensive renovation occurring in 1954. This temple’s cultural and historical treasures include the statue of Ly Quoc Su, statues of Buddha, Monk Tu Dao Hanh and his mother, and Monk Giac Hai. In addition, there is the valuable bell of Tu Chung, cast in the 19th century, and a stone stele with inscriptions created in 1855 by the renowned Le Dinh Duyen. A 244-meter-long street connecting Hang Bong and Nha Tho streets was given the name Ly Quoc Su.