Vietnam: Chua Mot Cot or One Pillar Pagoda, Dien Huu Temple, Hanoi

‘One Pillar Pagoda’ or Chua Mot Cot is an important icon for the City of Hanoi. Standing within the tiny Dien Huu Pagoda, which also dates from the 11th century, Chua Mot Cot is a wooden pagoda built, as its name suggests, on a single stone pillar standing in a simple yet elegant lotus pond.

King Ly Thai Tong (1000 - 1054) originally built both Dien Huu Pagoda and Chua Mot Cot in 1049. According to legend, the king, having no son, was visited in his dreams by the Goddess of Mercy Quan Am, who was sitting on a lotus flower and presented him with a baby boy. Soon thereafter, Ly Thai Tong married a new young queen who bore him a son. In gratitude, the king ordered the construction of a single-pillared pagoda representing a lotus flower.

Copyright:

CPA Media Co. Ltd.

Photographer:

David Henley

Credit:

Pictures From Asia