Giữa Đồng Pagoda, located in Nam Hòa Ward, Quảng Yên Town, was built by local people around the late 17th century. The pagoda is an important place of worship for residents in the surrounding area and an ideal spiritual tourism destination.
Giữa Đồng Pagoda – a sacred pagoda amid the Quảng Yên delta
Previously, the pagoda’s official name was Hương Đinh Phong Quang, while its name in Nôm was Giữa Đồng Pagoda. Later, it was renamed Giữa Đồng because it is situated amid vast rice fields and many peaceful rural hamlets.
The pagoda is surrounded by rice fields. Photo: Quảng Ninh Newspaper.
After existing for many years and being exposed to the elements, many structures of the pagoda had seriously deteriorated and fallen into disrepair. To meet the spiritual and cultural needs of residents in and outside the town, Quảng Yên Town restored and renovated Giữa Đồng Pagoda with an area of 21.671 square meters.
By January 2021, the pagoda’s restoration had been completed, and the main pagoda was officially inaugurated. The main pagoda was designed in the architectural style of the Lý Dynasty, with a total area of 600 square meters, built entirely from lim wood and solid stone, featuring a layered eight-roof structure and seven bays with two side compartments.
The pagoda’s three-entrance gate. Photo: Quảng Ninh Newspaper.
In addition to the main pagoda, other structures include the main sanctuary, the patriarch’s worship house, the Mother Goddess worship house, a guest house, a one-pillar pagoda, a ceremonial offering house, a corridor housing the Eighteen Arhats, a prayer-paper burner tower, a bell tower, the Sơn Trang grotto, and the Eighteen Arhats…
Photo: Nguyễn Hùng.
The main sanctuary worships the Three Jewels, the Buddhas, the World-Honored One, Guanyin Thế Chí, the Medicine Buddha, Maitreya Buddha, Jade Emperor, Nam Tào, Bắc Đẩu, and Quan Âm Thị Kính… The bell tower is also built of wood, while the bell was cast from bronze and weighs 1.5 tons.
The newly inaugurated pagoda is made of lim wood. Photo: Quảng Ninh Newspaper.
What is particularly special about Giữa Đồng Pagoda is that, in addition to worshipping those who contributed to founding the pagoda and the early sages, the patriarch’s worship house also contains a statue of President Hồ Chí Minh. This commemorates his great contributions and magnanimous spirit, while reminding Buddhists and practitioners to always follow his moral example.
Besides the main festival held annually on the 9th day of the first lunar month, twice a month, on the full-moon day and the first day of the lunar month, many local residents and visitors from various places come to the pagoda to sightsee, worship, and pray for peace.
Photo: hinn27.01.
The completed restoration of the pagoda creates potential for the development of spiritual tourism, highlights Quảng Yên Town’s tourism sector, and, above all, meets the religious and spiritual needs of local residents. Giữa Đồng Pagoda will be an attractive destination in Quảng Ninh at the beginning of the new year!
