QUA SON TEMPLE TOURIST SITE

Qua Son temple is located in the territory of Mieu Duong village, Bach Ngoc commune (now known as Boi Son commune) Do Luong district, Nghe An province. The temple is located at the foot of Qua Son mountain, so it is called Qua Son temple. This is the second most beautiful, precious and sacred temple among four sacred temples of the ancient Nghe An province: "First Con, secondly Qua, thirdly Bach Ma, fourth Chieu Trung”.

Qua Son temple worships Uy Minh Vuong Ly Nhat Quang, the 8th son of King Ly Thai To, who had the merit of ruling and building Nghe An from a poor land to a powerful province under the Ly dynasty. In 1039, Ly Nhat Quang was sent to Nghe An to take care of taxation collection and was appointed a district chief in Nghe An from 1041. As the head of the administrative apparatus in Nghe An, he had implemented many guidelines and policies on reforming economic, political and cultural development, maintaining order and security, winning people's hearts... Ly Nhat Quang had had great merit in consolidating and building Nghe An from a "remote" land with "bamboo house" to become a fortress, a solid bastion in terms of military, economy and culture, not only for the Ly Dynasty but also for the dynasties that followed. Uy Minh Vuong Ly Nhat Quang deserved to be a historical celebrity who had made great contributions to the stability and development of the country.

To commemorate a district chief who made great contributions to the cause of building and defending the country, after his death, the People built a temple on the historical land where Ly Nhat Quang once chose to be the chief town. Currently, there are more than 30 temples worshiping Uy Minh Vuong Ly Nhat Quang in Nghe Tinh. All feudal dynasties had appointed the title of saint for Uy Minh Vuong Ly Nhat Quang.

Qua Son temple was built in the Ly Dynasty, at first the scale was simple, it was restored and embellished many times under the feudal dynasties. Especially under the Nguyen Dynasty, the temple was built on a large scale, including the following works: garden, three-way gate, watch house, buring house, singing & dancing house, left house, right house, lower hall, middle hall and stone stele ... Experiencing many events, ups and downs of history, due to time and war, Qua Son temple no longer retains the same scale and stature as before, but still retains the ancient and sacred architectural features.

Currently, the temple has been restored on the old ground, including: lower hall, middle hall and upper hall following each other in the architectural style of the letter "Cong" worshiping Uy Minh Vuong Ly Nhat Quang. The left house worships Dong Chinh Vuong, the right house worships Duc Thanh Vuong (2 famous generals with the half-brothers of Ly Nhat Quang, together assisting with him in Nghe An). There is also a tomb containing the remains of Uy Minh Vuong Ly Nhat Quang located on the left side of the temple, with a stele house, a horse house, a three-way gate....

Qua Son temple still preserves many sophisticated carved sacrifices, reaching a high sculptural level, bestowed by kings and lords of many dynasties or donated by the people along with hundreds of precious bronze, stone, porcelain artifacts, wood, silver, and ivory having high artistic historical value such as altar, dragon throne, worship items, couplets, altar sword made of silver... Especially in the temple, there is still a statue of Ly Nhat Quang as big as a real person, sitting on the altar-throne, two hands resting on his knees, sitting posture, gentle face, statue made of precious wood with vermillion lacquered and gilded wood panels, dressed in a yellow silk robe, the statue is worshiped in the middle space in the forbidden palace. People can only worship him on solemn days.

Qua Son temple was recognized by Ministry of Culture and Information (now known as Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) as a national historical - cultural relic in Decision No. 05/QD-BVHTT dated February 12^th, 1998.