Temple of Literature
Vietnam's first university, founded in 1070, and its stelae carried on stone tortoises.
Duration
1 hr – 1 hr 30 min
Best time
At opening
Open
Every day
Entry price
To confirm
Founded in 1070 as a temple to Confucius, it became the country's first university in 1076, at first for the sons of mandarins only. It trained scholars for seven centuries.
You pass through five successive courtyards. In the third, eighty-two stone stelae carried by tortoises are engraved with the names of those who passed the imperial examinations between 1442 and 1779 — the centrepiece, and inscribed on the Memory of the World register.
Getting there
Quoc Tu Giam street, two kilometres west of Hoan Kiem lake. A ten-minute taxi ride from the old quarter.
What the price covers
entry charged, rate to be confirmed on site
What to bring
- Covering clothes
Rules on site
Modest dress expected, shoulders covered. In May and June, graduates come to be photographed here by the hundred and the courtyards are full.
Other places in Hanoi
- Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son templeThe lake at the heart of the old town, its legendary turtle and the red bridge to the temple.
- The 36 streets of the old quarterOne street per guild since the fifteenth century: tin street, silk street, toy street.
- Train StreetA train that grazes the housefronts twice a day, in a lane three metres wide.
- Ho Chi Minh MausoleumThe embalmed body of the country's founder, watched over by a guard of honour in white.