Things to see in Hanoi - Palaces
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Tay Ho Palace
On the east bank of West Lake, there stretches out into the lake a peninsula of land. This is Tay Ho Village, an ancient village of Thang Long. In front of the village, right on the water's edge, there is a temple dedicated to Madam Lieu Hanh, a lady who lived in the 17th century and was deified as Thanh Mau (God Mother) by the people to look after the creeds of Vietnamese folklore. The places dedicated to God Mother are sometimes called temples or palaces. Tay Ho Palace was built according to the following tale. Around the beginning of the 17th century, one morning, Phung Khac Khoan and two friends were boating on the lake when they met a beautiful girl. They talked to each other and composed poems together. When Phung asked her name, she smiled, read a poem and then suddenly disappeared. By analyzing the poem, Phung came to realize that she was Thanh Lieu. The Tay Ho villagers took advantage of the episode and built the palace dedicated to her. Today, this is a place that attracts many pilgrims who come to worship the God Mother and revere natural beauty.
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Excerpted from Hanoi: Past and Present by Nguyen Vinh Phuc, The Gioi Publishers, Hanoi, 1995
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Published on 12/6/03
