Monday, January 3, 2011

Temple of Literature

Hi there, 

This weekend, I went to a temple/former university of Hanoi a long time ago. Now it is called Temple of Literature. I enclose here description from wikipedia:

The landmark was founded in 1070 as a Confucian temple. Only parts of the Văn Miếu complex date back to the earliest period, although much of the architecture dates to the  (1010 – 1225) and Trần (1225 – 1400) Dynasties. In 1076 Vietnam's first university, the Quốc Tử Giám () or Imperial Academy, was established within the temple to educate Vietnam's bureaucrats, nobles, royalty and other members of the elite. The university functioned for more than 700 years, from 1076 to 1779. Given the extreme difficulty of the doctor laureate tests, few students passed final examinations. The list of names engraved on the stone stele every year during this period is very small. The stele records 2,313 students graduating as doctor laureates. Emperor Lê Thánh Tông established the tradition, dating back to 1484, of carving the names of the laureates of the university on stone steles that were placed on top of stone tortoises. Of the 116 steles corresponding to the examinations held between 1142 and 1778, only 82 remain.



Beautiful entrance and lanterns hanging from the top. I tried to take these picture when not too many people are around, but it was really crowded that day. 

A very cool tree but the sign is distracting... there is no grass to step on but it says "Do not step on grass".
Cool drum. I am guessing this is the university drums to start and end a class. 

I love this tree with the miniatures on it: old man fishing and old men playing chess. 


Hope you enjoyed it!!!

Much love,

My First Card

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