Đồng Quang Pagoda

The pagoda has the pen name of "Đồng Quang tự" and is located at No. 15, Lane 119, Tay Son Street, Quang Trung Ward, Dong Da District, Hanoi City.
According to the stele installed in the 9th Tu Duc year (1856), Dong Quang pagoda was said to be a fierce battlefield of the Tay Son insurgents in the historic Dong Da battle in 1789. Around the period from 1840 to 1847 of the King Thieu Tri dynasty, the Governor of Hanoi, Dang Van Hoa, collected the remains of Thanh soldiers scattered everywhere, then buried them into 12 mounds and built a temple to worship the souls of the dead. In 1851, the 4th Tu Duc year, when Kinh Luoc Nguyen Van Giai ordered to open the road, set up market, they found there were still many dry bones, so he ordered the people to collect these bones and bury them into another ground and called the people to contribute to build more compartments to worship. Experiencing many times of renovations, Dong Quang pagoda today has the architecture as it is today. The current architectural works of the pagoda include: Three-door gate, Front Hall, Main Hall, Patriarch house, Mother Goddess House and the temple to worship the Emperor Quang Trung.

The Three-door gate is an architecture built in the form of a stack of matchboxes with 2 floors and 8 curved roof, the roof top is decorated with the pattern of the sun, the below has the big letter board with 4 Chinese words of “Đồng Quang linh tự” (meaning the sacred Dong Quang Pagoda), the two sides of the gate are decorated with the parallel sentences in Chinese language.
Entering to the inside, the pagoda courtyard is treated with Bat Trang bricks. In the yard, there are perennial trees, ornamental plants and stone chairs arranged neatly to create a quiet scene of a meditation place. In front of the pagoda yard, there is a rockery where places the statue of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva made of white stone on a fake stone mountain to convey the spirit of Buddha Dharma to save the living beings in the world.
In front of the pagoda, the steps up and down are made of large blue stone blocks, the two sides are created into dragon steps with majestic looking. The way up and down the middle compartment has a worshiping table which is carved with patterns of dragon, hippo, curved letters, lotus, cloud which are very delicate and sharp.

The Front Hall consists of 5 compartments and 2 lantos, built in the style of the gables with tiled roofs. The middle of the ridge is carved with the curved letter board with 3 Chinese characters of Đồng Quang tự”, the two roof heads are decorated with the stylized dragon head. The framework consists of six wooden trusses structured in the "Upper beam and lower bracket system with decorative purlins" style on a layout with four rows of pillars. The three central compartments feature wooden doors designed in the "Bars on top and wooden flank at bottom" style. The house has a quite wide porch, the porch columns are made of blue stone and decorated with Chinese characters, the patterns of the four season and cloud with the meaning of spraying for good climate for the development and growth of all things.

The Main Hall a house with 3 compartments in the back to form the “丁” shaped structure. The structural framework of the beams follows the "Upper beam and lower bracket system" style on a two-row pillar layout. This is the seating arrangement for the Buddha statues, adhering to the principles of a traditional temple. At the top is the Tam Thế (Three Buddhas) statue set, followed by statues of Amitabha Buddha, Avalokiteshvara, Mahasthamaprapta, the Jade Emperor, Southern Star, and Northern Star. Finally, there is the Cửu Long (Nine Dragons) throne, depicting the moment of Buddha Shakyamuni's birth.
In addition to the main architecture, Dong Quang pagoda also has the Patriarch house with 7 compartments and 2 lean-tos, the Mother Goddess House with 3 compartments and 2 lean-tos with the traditional style. All wooden components in these two structures are carved with patterns to create a sense of lightness and elegance for the relic.

The temple area where worships the ​​King Quang Trung is designed in the style of "二" shape, including 5 compartments of Front Hall and 5 compartments of Harem. The Front Hall is the place to worship the souls of the Qing soldiers who died in 1789. The Harem worships King Quang Trung - the outstanding leader of the Tay Son insurgents. In addition, this place also worships some meritorious mandarins of the Nguyen Dynasty.
Experiencing many ups and downs in history, Dong Quang pagoda still retains many relics of historical - cultural and artistic values, including: 37 round statues, 14 stone steles, 02 bronze bells and many horizontal lacquered boards, doors painting in fresco, parallel sentences, incense-table, curved letter etc. with the dating art from the 19th – 20th century that have make the Buddha temple more majestic and magnificent.
Every year, on the 5th day of the Lunar New Year, together with the Dong Da festival, Dong Quang pagoda opens a porridge festival to pray the souls of the Qing soldiers who died in the past so that their souls are set free to return their country. This ritual demonstrates the traditional humanistic and moral spirit of our nation in dealing with defeated invaders.

Located in the fierce battlefield of the Tay Son insurgents in the historic Dong Da battle in 1789, Dong Quang pagoda along with 13 mounds that buried Qing corpses such as: Dong Da Mound, Trung Liet Mound, Dong Thieng Mound, Dau Lau Mound, Cay Co mountain, Thanh temple, Boc pagoda etc. are the historical evidence marking the glorious feat of Tay Son insurgents in the eighteenth century.
The pagoda was classified as a national level relic in 1990.