Nhat Tru pagoda relic is located in Truong Yen commune, Hoa Lu district, Ninh Binh province, 300m far from the King Le Dai Hanh temple to the North. This spiritual land is the center of Hoa Lu ancient capital, the first capital of the central feudal state of Vietnam, associated with the career of historical figures of the three dynasties Dinh, pre-Le and the beginning of the Ly dynasty.
Currently, in front of the temple yard, the original stone column is still preserved, engraved with Chinese characters in the mantras of Surangama sutra. The column was built in 995, during the reign of King Le Dai Hanh. Perhaps that's why the pagoda is called Nhat Tru Pagoda, as the big letter in front of the temple gate has three Chinese characters engraved: "Nhat Tru Tu", that is, Nhat Tru Pagoda, means One Pillar Pagoda.
The pagoda was built in the style of Dinh, including 5 front halls and 3 upper halls, roof tiled south. The upper hall has a truss-style architecture with common pillars and corners embossed with dragons and swords, carved in the style of the Le dynasty. The front hall is made of wood, decorated with twisted leaves, stylized lotus flowers in the art style of the Nguyen dynasty. In the pagoda, in addition to the Buddhist scripture column from the 10th century having special value, it also preserves many artifacts of great historical and cultural value.
Stone pillar of Nhat Tru pagoda, photo: Xuan Lam
The relic is the place where many historical events took place, contributing to the victory of our nation in the resistance wars against the French and the Americans to save the country. Currently, Nhat Tru pagoda is still a place of spiritual and cultural activities of the people in the village and local tourists, where festival activities imbued with national cultural identity took place. With those values, the pagoda was ranked by the Ministry of Culture and Information as a National Historical and Cultural Relic in 1998.