Temple of Literature

King Lý Thánh Tông founded the Văn Miếu, the temple to Confucius, in 1070, sixty years after the capital moved to Thăng Long. In 1076 his successor Lý Nhân Tông added the Quốc Tử Giám, the Imperial Academy, first to educate princes and sons of high officials. Under the Trần and Lê dynasties it opened to talented commoners who had passed the provincial examinations, and it became the training ground for the mandarins who ran the state.

Vietnam’s Confucian examination system had three levels: provincial (thi hương), metropolitan (thi hội) and the palace examination (thi đình), where the king set the final questions. Those who passed at the top level earned the title tiến sĩ, doctor. From 1484, King Lê Thánh Tông ordered that the names of successful doctors be carved on stone stelae here, beginning with the examination of 1442. The last examination recorded took place in 1779.

When the Nguyễn dynasty moved the capital to Huế in 1802, it built a new national academy there, and this site became a regional school. The pavilion of Khuê Văn Các was added in 1805. Parts of the complex were damaged in fighting in 1946–47, and the restorations of the 20th century included a new building in the fifth courtyard, completed in 2000 on the site of the old academy. The doctors’ stelae were inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World register in 2011.

The complex is a long walled rectangle of about 5.4 hectares, oriented north–south and divided into five courtyards. You enter through the Văn Miếu gate, pass two quiet garden courtyards with lawns and trees, and move steadily towards the ritual core. Across the street in front lies Văn Lake, once part of the temple’s grounds. The walls and gates are deliberately plain; the carving and colour are saved for the altar halls.

The second courtyard ends at Khuê Văn Các, the Pavilion of the Constellation of Literature, a small two-storey pavilion raised on four square white pillars, its upper room opening through round windows with radiating bars that suggest a star. It is the official symbol of Hà Nội and appears on the ₫100,000 note. Beyond it, the third courtyard centres on a square pond, Thiên Quang Tỉnh, the Well of Heavenly Clarity. On either side stand the 82 stone stelae, each mounted on the back of a stone turtle.

Look closely at the stelae. Early examples from the 15th century are slim, with fine floral borders and turtles with small heads; later ones from the 18th century are larger, heavier and bolder. Each lists the year of the examination, the examiners and the names and home villages of the graduates. The fourth courtyard is the ritual centre, with the Đại Thành hall dedicated to Confucius and his four main disciples. The fifth, the Thái Học courtyard, holds a large bronze bell and drum, and altars to the kings who founded and expanded the academy.

The turtles carrying the stelae stand for longevity and for the endurance of learning; the names on their backs were meant to last as long as stone. Khuê refers to a constellation that in Chinese astronomy governs literature, so the pavilion is, in effect, a small observatory for learning. The pond reflects the pavilion, joining earth and heaven, an image any scholar of the time would have recognised.

The academy is also linked to the teacher Chu Văn An, who taught here in the 14th century. Tradition holds that he petitioned King Trần Dụ Tông to execute seven corrupt officials, and when the king ignored him, he resigned and retired to the mountains. He is remembered as the model of an honest teacher, and many schools in Vietnam carry his name. His altar is in the fifth courtyard.

For generations students rubbed the turtles’ heads for luck before examinations, and the stone on many of them is visibly polished smooth. The habit, combined with weather and crowds, threatened carvings that had lasted five centuries, so the rows of stelae are now roped off and guards will stop anyone who reaches over. The belief has simply moved: students now touch the altar rails, leave small offerings and tuck folded wishes near the shrines instead. Reading the stelae works just as well as a mark of respect, and the names are carved large enough to see from the path.

Before exams, especially the national high school graduation exam in June, students come to pray, leave offerings and write wishes on paper. Parents come too, often on the 1st or 15th of the lunar month, and some bring the admission slip or a pen to be blessed at the altar. In spring, graduating students from Hà Nội universities arrive in gowns to take photographs among the courtyards, which is why weekends from March to May are busy.

At Tết the temple is a centre for calligraphy. Ông đồ, calligraphers in traditional dress, set up tables to write characters such as phúc (blessing) or tâm (heart) in Chinese characters or stylised Vietnamese script. Families buy these to hang at home for the new year, and the queue for a well-known calligrapher can be long. On the full moon of the first lunar month the temple also hosts the Vietnam Poetry Day gathering, with readings and poems hung on banners across the courtyards.

Outside those peaks it is one of the calmer places in central Hà Nội. Older residents come in the early morning for the shade of the first courtyards, and schools bring classes to learn about the exam system, often standing in front of the stelae while a teacher reads out names from their own province. Late afternoon light is soft on Khuê Văn Các and the crowds thin, which makes it the most pleasant time to walk the full length of the courtyards. Mid-morning on weekdays is when school groups are largest.