The mystery of the famous "multi-city" love tree in Lam Kinh

A person who visited Lam Kinh (Thanh Hoa) and heard the legend about the banyan tree wrote a poem comparing the banyan tree to a man and the jujube tree to a woman.

Lim tree 'sacrifices itself'

Knowing that I wanted to learn about the 'sacrificial' lim tree, Ms. Tran Thi Chung, an officer of the Professional Department, Lam Kinh Relic Management Board, took me to the Lam Kinh Main Hall restoration project.

She said: 'The Lam Kinh Main Hall restoration project mobilized more than 2,000 cubic meters of wood from Laos, but only one Lim tree from Lam Kinh forest was brought back for the Wood Punishment Ceremony at this project'.

It is not by chance that this ironwood tree was brought back to perform the Wood Punishment Ceremony at Lam Kinh's largest project, but is associated with a very coincidental story.

'In the west of Lam Kinh there is a very large lim tree, one of the tallest in Lam Kinh forest. Because in the past, storks often came to perch on the tree, the locals called it 'stork' lim.

There is something very special, when the lim tree was still green, it suddenly shed its leaves (around February 2010), coinciding with the time when the Lam Kinh Main Palace Restoration Project was approved.

The location of the "sacrificial" ironwood tree.

After 3-4 months, although the relic management board waited to see if it would revive, the tree still shed a lot of leaves and died, coinciding with the time the construction design was just completed,' said Ms. Chung.

When the ironwood tree was cut down, it had many special features. Normally, ancient ironwood trees are often hollow, but this ironwood tree has a solid core, completely suitable for making pillars of the Main Hall, with the scale of 9 largest ironwood buildings in Vietnam.

Furthermore, after removing the bark, people found that the trunk and branches of the ironwood tree were enough to make four pillars: the main pillar, the secondary pillar, the corner pillar and the upper beam to serve the Wood Punishment Ceremony to start the construction of the Lam Kinh Main Hall.

The diameter of the base of the ironwood tree matches the main pillar (approximately 0.8m), the top is about 0.65cm, just right for the army pillar.

People measured the circumference and analyzed the wood grain, estimating that this ironwood tree is about 600 years old.

All the above wooden parts are suitable for the foundations of the Rear Palace, a very important structure of the Main Palace. That is why it is called the 'sacrificial' lim tree.

The main pillar in the Back Palace (Lam Kinh Main Palace) is made from a 600-year-old ironwood tree.

This ironwood tree has supported the largest construction in Lam Kinh central area', Ms. Chung explained the coincidence that this ironwood tree is commonly known as 'sacrificing itself'.

"Love story" of the banyan tree

The banyan tree stands tall in the middle of the citadel, southwest of the Dragon Court.

According to legend, no one knows when a fig tree grew at the two ends of Nghi Mon.

The fig tree grew quickly and bore fruit every year. The small fruit had an astringent taste but was very fragrant. Birds in the forest always came to eat the fruit. At those times, they also brought the banyan fruit to eat, the seeds fell and grew into the banyan tree.

Mysterious, tree of love, multi-city, famous, Lam Kinh

This banyan tree is about 300 years old.

As the banyan tree matures, the banyan tree's roots increasingly embrace the star apple tree. Because it has two tops and one root, people still call it the banyan tree.

Talking about the banyan tree, Mr. Nguyen Van Duc (60 years old), residing in Lam Son town, said: 'Every time we go to Lam Kinh forest to play, if it is banyan season, we will see banyan fruit, if it is star fruit season, we will see star fruit. This makes us extremely excited'.

Since it grew, the fig tree has been surrounded and existed alongside the banyan tree. However, in 2007, the fig tree died, leaving only the banyan tree. According to legend, the banyan tree is about 300 years old.

'A person who visited Lam Kinh and heard the legend about the banyan tree wrote a long poem, comparing the banyan tree to a man and the jujube tree to a woman.

The poem is very long, but there are 2 verses that readers can easily remember and appreciate: 'For thousands of years, people have been passionate/ Not just us today'.

Close-up of the multi-city root

In 2013, the banyan tree was recognized as a Vietnamese heritage tree by the Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment.

Visiting Lam Kinh relic site, we not only learn about the heroic history of the Le Dynasty, feel the historical and cultural values, but also live in a sacred space.

According to VTV online