One Pillar Pagoda (Chùa Một Cột)

In front of you is one of Hanoi's smallest and best-loved buildings: a wooden shrine raised on a single column, like a lotus flower rising from the water.

1The emperor's dream

According to tradition, Emperor Lý Thái Tông, who had no son, dreamed that Quan Âm, the bodhisattva of compassion, seated on a lotus flower, handed him a baby boy. Soon afterwards his heir was born. A monk advised him to build a temple like the one he had seen in his dream, and so it was done in 1049. The chronicles record the founding; the dream belongs to pious storytelling.

2Destroyed and rebuilt

The pagoda was enlarged and repaired many times over the centuries. In 1954, shortly before leaving Hanoi after their defeat at Điện Biên Phủ, French troops blew it up. The following year the new government rebuilt it in the form it had had under the Nguyễn. The original stone pillar was replaced with a concrete one.

What you see is a 1955 reconstruction, but its shape preserves an idea almost a thousand years old.

The shrine is dedicated to Quan Âm, and many visitors, especially families, come to pray for children or good health. Beside it is Diên Hựu Pagoda, of which the pavilion was once part.

3What to look for

• The single column holding the pavilion above the water.
• The square pond, with lotuses and water lilies.
• The two dragons on the roof ridge, facing a disc in the centre.