The hundred-year-old Khanh An Monastery, located in district 12 of Ho Chi Minh City, looks very much like a Japanese pagoda and has become a tourist attraction.
The pagoda was destroyed many times, so that it used to be smaller or simply rebuilt with bamboo and bricks. In 2006, the pagoda was upgraded and was named as Khanh An Monastery. The monastery’s biggest and main facility is a four-storey building constructed with wood and stone
The monastery was built in the Mahayana-style. The path to the main facility is carved with lotus-shaped patterns
The main wooden facility is a place for worship and meditation
The monastery, after an upgrade, has resumed its original state with no decoration of sacred objects, dragons or phoenixes because it bears the culture of courts
Architecture of some facilities of the monastery is the same with Japanese pagodas’, especially those for monks and guests
The monastery has three main colors, including brown color of wood, white of paint and yellow of decorative patterns
The facility for monks and guests is distinguished itself with the red color and lanterns
The top of the facility for monks and guests was built in a style similar to that of Japanese pagodas and temples
Wooden lamps in the monastery
Lanterns are lit on the full moon day of each month and during meditation courses
Tourists come to the monastery for visits and praticing photography. The monastery also hosts meditation courses for the public
Source: en.qdnd.vn
