Trấn Quốc Pagoda – The Signature of Ancient Hanoi

Chùa Trấn Quốc (or Tran Quoc Pagoda) is located at the East side of West Lake, on Thanh Nien Road, Hanoi capital. Tran Quoc Pagoda has a history of about 1500 years and is the oldest pagoda in Hanoi in particular and in Vietnam in general. Particularly, it is linked by a bridge to the causeway between the two most beautiful lakes of Hanoi: West Lake and Truc Bach Lake.

Tran Quoc Pagoda – Journey Vietnam

According to Vietnam history, the pagoda was built under Ly Nam De’s reign (544-548) associated with Van Xuan State. At the beginning time, Tran Quoc pagoda was named as Khai Quoc (Found the Nation) and Later, then King Le Thai Tong (1434 – 1442) changed it’s named to An Quoc (Secure the Nation).

Tran Quoc Pagoda still kept a fairly complete system of status.

There are Buddhist statues, three sages and ancestor monks in the pagoda. Specifically, the pagoda has a statue of Buddha entering Nirvana that folk often calls Reclining Buddha which was rarely seen in northern pagodas but mainly seen in Laos or Thailand.

Tran Quoc Pagoda still kept a fairly complete system of status

Tran Quoc Pagoda also kept many poems and parallel sentences of kings and mandarins under Nguyen Dynasty praising the scenery. Over thousands of years, due to the destruction of nature, Vietnam government restored some details of pagoda such as the main hall, a house of worship, the steeple, the corridor, etc. With all the historical and architectural values it possesses, Tran Quoc Pagoda is an indispensable destination for cultural explorers to Vietnam and very worth visiting as a sacred sanctuary of Buddhism attracting countless Buddhist believers.

Tran Quoc Pagoda also kept many poems and parallel sentences of kings and mandarins under Nguyen Dynasty praising the scenery

Today, around West Lake have a lot of shops which are crowded all the day; however, Tran Quoc Pagoda retains a private space of tranquility which is the trace of Buddhist culture from the time of Hanoi the ancient city, attracting many Buddhists to worship and domestic and foreign tourists to visit.