Hanoi Holiday Weather today
Date/time of update: November 5, 2024, 1:46 am, Timezone: GMT+7
Overcast Clouds
Temperature: 25.03°C
Temperature feels like: 25.39°C
Minimum Temperature: 25.03°C
Maximum Temperature: 25.03°C
Atmospheric pressure: 1021hPa
Humidity:69%
Visibility: 7000m
Wind speed: 0.51m/sec
Wind Direction: 0 degrees
Cloudiness: 100%
Sunrise: 2024-11-04 11:01:17
Sunset: 2024-11-05 10:18:48
The Voi Phuc Temple or Temple of the Kneeling Elephants is on 362 Kim Ma Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi. The temple is located right on the southwestern corner of the Thu Le Lake, close to the Zoo of Hanoi. Earlier the site of the temple was the Thu Le Village. In the 11th century this area was called the Thi Trai Quarter.
Travel Guide to the Voi Phuc Temple, Hanoi
Prince Linh Lang
The Voi Phuc Temple is dedicated to a Ly Prince named Linh Lang (11th century) under King Ly Thanh Tong (born 1023, dead 1072) who was the ruling king of Dai Viet (Vietnam now) in between 1054-1072. Prince Linh Lang assisted the king to fight off the Song invaders from China. Shortly after the victory, the prince got sick and died.
After the prince death, the king posthumously granted him with the title Linh Lang Dai Vuong and ordered the construction of a temple dedicated to the prince. The site of the temple was in Thi Trai where Prince Linh Lang lived with his mother during his childhood. And the king also changed the name Thi Trai to Thu Le.
Voi Phuc Temple
The name of the temple is Voi Phuc meaning Kneeling Elephants is related to a legend that when the prince got what he asked for including an elephant and troops, and before setting out to the battlefield he shouted to the elephant who knelt down immediately for the prince to get on.
It is also said that during the successive dynasties, each time the kingdom was under threat of being invaded and the generals often came to this temple to pay respect and they got victory over their enemies. This made the temple more revered during the ups and downs of the history of Vietnam.
The Puzzles
There is a puzzle which needs to be solved regarding prince Linh Lang as well as the year when the temple was built. Currently there are quite some conflicting details related to these questions. Some sources accept the fact that the prince was born in 1064 and a son of king Ly Thanh Tong. Some sources claimed the temple was built in 1065. And some other sources claimed that Prince Linh Lang fought battles against the Song troops. But during the Dai Viet (Vietnam) history, the first war against the Song was in the 10th century and the second one was in 1075-1077. If it was the second war prince Linh Lang fought then he was roughly 13 years old then.
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