Risk of delay in restoration progress at a national monument
(Baonghean.vn) The temple of the first-ranking scholar Ho Tong Thoc in Tho Thanh, Yen Thanh (also known as the Tam Cong temple) has had its detailed planning project for restoration and embellishment approved by all levels since 2010, but is now at risk of being behind schedule.
The project has a total investment of more than 26.6 billion VND (from many sources of capital from the national target program, local budget and sponsorship from other organizations and individuals) with Yen Thanh District People's Committee as the investor and Thang Long Architecture Joint Stock Company as the construction planning.
At this point, when we returned to Tho Thanh to directly observe, the restoration and embellishment project was still unfinished, only 2 houses on the left and right sides had been built (covered with tarpaulin to protect against rain and sun), the road to the relic had just been built a section to reach the residents' houses. Talking to us, Mr. Ho Sy Khai, Chairman of the Commune Veterans Association, a member of the project supervision board, said: The most difficult and largest task was land acquisition, relocating 9 households next to the relic to open the road and create a campus for the relic according to the approved plan. Although both the commune and the district have made great efforts, up to now they have not been able to arrange compensation land for the relocation of these 9 households. Another difficulty is that the budget for the relocation work according to the approved project is more than 5 billion VND, which also needs to be increased, but even disbursement is difficult now.
The temple of the first-ranked scholar Ho Tong Thoc (Tho Thanh, Yen Thanh) is under construction.
To help readers easily visualize the Tam Cong Temple relic ranked at the national level, we would like to review some special features of the relic. First of all, the name Tam Cong, this is the solemn and honorific way of calling those who have achieved the highest degrees and greatest achievements up to the Tam Cong level (Thai Su, Thai Bao, Thai Uy), and at the same time implicitly refers to the 3 consecutive generations of top candidates: "A family of three top candidates sitting/ Hanging a motherly mirror for the world to look at", that is: Ho Tong Thoc, Ho Tong Don, Ho Tong Thanh - 3 father and son, grandfather and grandson, a unique phenomenon in the history of the country's mandarin examinations. However, the temple not only worships these three, but also worships the first ancestors such as the first-ranked scholar Ho Hung Dat (the founder of the Ho family in the whole country), Ho Cao (father of Ho Tong Thoc), and many other famous scholars who are the grandchildren of the first-ranked scholar Ho Tong Thoc (such as the doctors Ho Doan Van, Ho Dinh Trung, Ho Dinh Que, and Huong Cong Ho Minh Dat...).
These people all received royal decrees from the Le and Nguyen dynasties. Some people, such as Le Dynasty doctorate, My Quan Cong Ho Dinh Trung, received up to 5 royal decrees from both the Le and Nguyen dynasties. Currently, the relic only retains 12 royal decrees, of which the three Tran Dynasty laureates, father and son, and grandfather and grandson Ho Tong Thoc, only received royal decrees from the Nguyen dynasty. According to the elders with the Ho family here, this relic was burned to ashes in a great fire during the Trinh-Mac war (the whole village was burned down). It was not until the Nguyen dynasty (1919) that it was restored and renovated. Therefore, the current temple architecture bears the architectural style of the Nguyen dynasty. After nearly a hundred years, many years of war and a period of immaturity, the relic was once again severely damaged. If the area of the relic could be relocated, the 9 adjacent households would only be partially restored compared to before.
In front of the temple yard, there are two remaining statues of turtles carrying stone steles with sizes similar to those in the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam, but the turtles have lost their heads and the two steles have been lost and have not been found yet. On the left side of the temple, in the garden of a local house, there are three tombs of scholars who are descendants of three top scholars who have promoted the tradition of learning of their ancestors; they are Doctor Ho Doan Van, Huong Cong Ho Minh Dat, and Ho Nhuoc Thuy.
Restoring the Tam Cong temple is very necessary, not only to prevent normal degradation, but also to honor a typical relic of the tradition of studiousness of Nghe An in the context that the documents and holy documents from the province to the village no longer exist, this is a rare relic of the tradition of studiousness and mandarin examinations that needs to be restored and promoted, especially for tourism in the future. Delaying the land acquisition and relocation of adjacent households will cause other items from infrastructure to interior, garden... to be delayed as well. I hope that the authorities from Tho Thanh commune and Yen Thanh district will soon have solutions to remove difficulties so that the project can ensure progress.
Mai Ho Minh
