The 90-year-old Tran Hung Dao Temple in Saigon

Tran Hung Dao Temple Temple of Saint Tran, District 1, built in 1932, is one of the city's sacred religious sites. The Temple of Saint Tran Hung Dao was built in a large campus of the old Van An pagoda. In 1957, the temple was built on a larger scale and was later renovated many times. The entrance to the temple is on Vo Thi Sau Street (District 1), including the main gate in the middle and two side gates on both sides. The main gate is designed with a curved tile roof, decorated with dragon and phoenix shapes. On the gate's forehead stand out 4 large Chinese characters, transliterated: "Hung Dao Dai Vuong".

In the middle of the large yard behind the gate is an incense burner and a statue of Tran Hung Dao. When entering the temple, people often worship Saint Tran before entering the shrine. The statue of the famous general of the Tran Dynasty is nearly 2 meters high, cast in 1972 with steel and cement. A corner of the yard quotes a passage from Tran Hung Dao's Hich Tuong Si written at the end of the 13th century before the second resistance war against the Mongol invaders by Dai Viet's army and people. 

The temple was built at the end of the yard, shaped like a "nail", and is a 5-room house built of wood and reinforced concrete. The roof is covered with fish-scale tiles, and on the top is an image of two dragons flanking the moon, often seen in traditional temple architecture. On both sides of the steps there is a statue of Mr. Ho (tiger), which is a native mascot of the Vietnamese people. Inside the temple has an area of ​​about 200 m2, with two areas: front hall and back hall. The worship space is decorated beautifully and solemnly with incense burners, parasols, precious bowls, cranes, horizontal panels... 

In the temple, there are also many very artistic works painted with red lacquer and gold card such as lamellas, diaphragms, parallel tureens, white horses... On both sides of the front hall there are altars to worship talented generals of the Tran dynasty such as Tran Quang. Khai, Tran Khanh Du, Pham Ngu Lao, Yet Kieu, Da Tuong. Next to the temple is the "Tran Dynasty Historical Exhibition" house built in 1929, currently closed for renovation. Every year, the temple organizes major holidays, among which are the death anniversary (August 20 of the lunar calendar) and birth anniversary (December 10) of Tran Hung Dao.

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