Vinh Trang pagoda in Tien Giang province’s My Tho city was built in the middle of 19th century and currently features a mixture of French, Roman, Chinese, Vietnamese and Khmer architectural styles.
The pagoda’s current three-door gate is such an art piece made by old artisans from Hue in 1933.
The roof of the three-door gate is skillfully decorated with sacred animals of dragon, unicorn, tortoise and phoenix made of Vietnamese and Chinese ceramic.
Vinh Trang Pagoda is designed after the shape of Quoc (囯)word, with red tile roof, and four connecting apartments (forecourt, sanctum, ancestral house and rear house) of 14,000m2.
The façade of the pagoda looks like an old French palace. Part of the roof features Khmer culture with Japanese enameled tile
Curved roof of Vinh Trang pagoda features decorations with both Roman and and European architecture including elements from Renaissance period. Doors and windows have designs of French villas.
Internal main and ancestral worshipping apartments are designed with Chinese styles but still keep Vietnamese architectural features, with horizontal boards and oblong boards of the parallel sentences.
The main worshipping altar placed with many gold-plated Buddhist statues made of wood, bronze or cement in late 19th century
In the temple grounds, there is a Maitreya Buddha statue in a sitting position with a height of 20m and a weight of 250,000kg completed in 2010 with concrete and reinforced materials.
In the backyard there is a reclining statue of Buddha Shakyamuni with 32m long completed in 2013.
The pagoda is surrounded by gardens of ornamental trees, ancient trees and bonsai, creating a peaceful atmosphere.
PTT
