Ngoc Son Temple

About this place

A small temple on Jade Island at the northern end of Hoan Kiem Lake, reached across the red wooden Huc Bridge, one of Hanoi's most photographed corners. The present buildings date from the nineteenth century. The temple was first dedicated to three sages of the Chinese tradition, the best known being Wenchang, the god of literature in Chinese belief, and later also to the national hero Tran Hung Dao, who repelled the Mongol invasions in the thirteenth century. At the entrance on the lakeshore stands the stone Pen Tower, and the gate beyond it is topped by a stone ink-slab, both nods to scholarship. Across the bridge you pass through the Dac Nguyet pavilion before reaching the temple halls. What most visitors come to see are two giant turtles from the lake itself, preserved in glass cases: one that died in 1967, and the last known turtle of the lake, which died in January 2016. Hanoians have long linked these turtles with the legend of the returned sword. The temple is small and half an hour is enough. Come early, before the tour groups, or near sunset, when the red bridge is reflected in the water.