Vinh Trang Pagoda in Tien Giang: If you truly like the outdoors and want the unique experience of living with the local people in the Mekong Delta, you should visit Vinh Trang Pagoda, an ancient southern architectural gem in Tien Giang Province.
History of Vinh Trang Pagoda
Formerly, it was a small leaf hermitage set up in the early 19th century by District Chief Bui Cong Dat. In 1849, the Most Venerable Abbot Thich Hue Dang built a big pagoda and named it Vinh Trang Pagoda. The Most Venerable Thich Thien DeThe was Abbot’s successor. In 1890, lay-Buddhists go to the Royal-Chartered Linh Thuu Pagoda to invite the Most Venerable Thich Chanh Hau to take charge of the Abbot of the Pagoda. In 1895, he had the Pagoda rebuilt. The pagoda has lots of netlike panels, horizontal boards and oblong boards of parallel sentences. These netlike panels were cleverly carved. The Most Venerable Thich Minh Dang had the Triple Gate, the main hall and the Patria built.
Architecture and Structure of Vinh Trang Pagoda
Vinh Trang Pagoda is the biggest pagoda of Tien Giang Province, in an area of 2,000m2 with many beautiful trees. It was constructed in 1849 in My Phong village, My Tho City, in the shape of “Nation” letter of Chinese characters. The pagoda consists of four large departments connected with each other: the front department, the main department, the worship department, and the back department, having a combination of European-Asian architecture and creating a splendid beauty, and solemnity, but purity.
The beautiful structure features a mixture of Chinese, French, Vietnamese, and Cambodian (Angkor) architectural styles. The pagoda includes five buildings, two ornamental yards, and 178 pillars.
The extremely nice structures in the pagoda are two triumphal arches bearing the art of inserting bottles and porcelain fragments which make harmonious pictures illustrating the Buddha’s legendaries. Inside the pagoda, there is a set of pictures of “eight angels riding on animals” another set of statues of the Amitabha Holy Trinity carved in bronze, as big as a person, and more particularly, the set of the eighteen Arahants, wood carving work, is the only one, not two, in the west of South Vietnam, made by a number of artists in 1907. Graves of monks who took care of the pagoda are scattered around. These graves are decorated with clever engraved flagstones.
There are three entrances to the pagoda. The central iron gate is always closed, while the two side gates designed in the co-lau style are open. The side gates are decorated with colorful porcelain mosaics featuring Buddhist folktales and natural scenery.
The facade of Vinh Trang Pagoda has both Asian and European architecture including elements from the Renaissance period, Romanesque style, French decorative flowers, and Japanese enameled tile. From afar, the pagoda looks like the five-tower Angkor Temple.
According to locals, a monk named Minh Dan and an architect named Huynh Tri Phu went to Cambodia prior to building the pagoda for inspiration and eventually combined Khmer architecture with European styles for the pagoda. Vinh Trang Pagoda stores 60 precious statues made from copper, wood, and terracotta. The most valuable collection is the 18 arhats created from jackfruit tree wood in 1907. Additionally, the pagoda has a big bell that was cast in 1854.
The pagoda is surrounded by gardens of ornamental trees, old big trees, and bonsai, creating a peaceful scenery. It offered shelter for Vietnamese patriots and is recognized as a national historical and cultural relic by the Vietnamese government.
The architecture of Vinh Trang Pagoda is a harmonious combination of Asian and European styles of architecture, creating the splendid, but simple features of this Buddhist pagoda.
Vinh Trang Pagoda
Vinh Trang Pagoda
Vinh Trang Pagoda
Vinh Trang Pagoda
Vinh Trang Pagoda
Vinh Trang Pagoda
Vinh Trang Pagoda
Vinh Trang Pagoda
Vinh Trang Pagoda
