The land of Sai Gon - Gia Dinh has been over 300 years, most of the pagodas in Sai Gon were built under Nguyen dynasty, in this story we would like to introduce 5 oldest pagodas in Sai Gon, all of them are more than 200 years and are attached to the establishment and development of Sai Gon - Gia Dinh region.

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1 - Hue Nghiem pagoda
Hue Nghiem pagoda is located in Dang Van Bi street, Thu Duc district. Today, the temple is often called the Hue Nghiem Pagoda 1 to distinguish from Hue Nghiem 2 in District 2. The pagoda was started by Buddhist Monk Thiet Thuy (168 -1757) in 18th century. According to some documentation it was built in 1721. Hue Nghiem is the oldest pagoda in Sai Gon
Hue Nghiem pagoda was initially built in the low land, about 100 meters from the current building. Then Ms Nguyen Thi Hien (1763-1821) religious name Lieu Dao, also known as Thanh Tam, donated the land to rebuild it. The pagoda was restored many times, major restoration was in the late nineteenth century by Master Dat Ly.
Its architecture is changed in the restoration in 1960, 1969, 1990 and 2003 with tile curved knife blade shaped roof, decorated with stylized lotus flower. The precinct is pretty large, there are many ancient towers. The three way entrance and Quan Am tower in the font yard was built in 1990.

2 - Giac Lam pagoda (To Dinh Giac Lam)
Giac Lam pagoda is also known as Cam Son pagoda, it is located in Lac Long Quan road of Tan Binh district, the pagoda was built in 1744 under Lord Nguyen Phuc Khoat, this is home to the Zen Te Tong in south Vietnam with an architecture of Tam letter including 3 interconnecting horizontal blocks: ceremonial hall, chanting hall and the refectory.
The pagoda's campus is rather large with big shady trees although it is still very crowded on weekdays. Famous literate Trinh Hoai Duc described the pagoda in the book Gia Dinh citadel as "Giac Lam pagoda is situated on Cam Son mound, 3 miles from Ban Bich rampart...dense trees as forest, blossoming like brocade", clouds of smoke floating by all day, the place is small but elegant"
In front of the pagoda is a hexagonal stupa, the 7th floor is used to host Buddha relics, the pagoda courtyard is a statue of Bodhisattava in the shadow of a snowbell tree grown by Venerable Narada bought from Srilanka in 1953.
Today Giac Lam pagoda has a small museum preserving many sculptures with skillful carvings, there are 113 ancient statues, mostly of wood, the main pillars in the temple are carved with parallel sentences, elaborately trimmed with gold.


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3 - Giac Vien pagoda
Also located in Lac Long Quan road but in district 11, the history of Giac Vien pagoda is associated with Giac Lam pagoda as the location of Giac Vien pagoda was the warehouse while Giac Lam pagoda was rebuilt in 1798. It was originally a small shrine, a few years later it was built as a pagoda.
Giac Vien pagoda has been through some major restoration in 1899, 1908 and most recently was in 1991. Giac Vien pagoda's architecture consists of two combined four-pillar houses, the front house is ceremonial hall, dedicated to Buddha, the back room as chanting hall and lounge, the two sides have two corridors East and West connected to the main corridor.
Giac Vien pagoda has 153 big and small statues, mostly made of wood, 57 fresco doors, 60 reliefs with many characteristics of belief, religion, contaning the values of culture, arts of Vietnam in late 18th and early 19th ceturries.

4 - Thien Hau pagoda
Located in Nguyen Trai street, Thien Hau pagoda is also known as Lady pagoda in Cho Lon, is one of the oldes Chinese pagodas in China town area (Cho Lon) of Sai Gon city, it was built in around 1760.
Thien Hau pagoda bears the typical architecture of the Chinese, it was built in the shape of a seal with 4 houses linked together, between the blocks is a space called holy well for open air, well-lit place for smoke emission.
The main hall, or Thien Hau hall is dedicated to Thien Hau Lady, the statue of Thien Hau lady was carved from a block of wood one meter tall and was long time before the pagoda was built, the statue was worshiped in Bien Hoa and moved here in 1836.
Thien Hau pagoda is the most famous ancient temple in District 5, where every day there are a lot of people to worship, especially on the full moon day and 1st day of lunar month. Especially in the New Year's holidays such as Chinese New Year, Lantern, Dumpling...The biggest festival in the pagoda is the Thien Hau soul (lunar March 23) attracts not only Chinese, Vietnamese in Sai Gon but also in other provinces.

5 - Phung Son pagoda
Phung Son Pagoda is located on Ba Thang Hai Street (District 11), built by Superior monk Lieu Thong at the beginning of the 19th century. The pagoda was originally a small temple on a high mound and that's why it was also called as Mound pagoda. Legend has it that a phoenix landed on the Ngo Dong tree and sang, the monk considered as a good sign and rename the pagoda as Phung Son, meaning a pagoda on the phoenix mountain.
1904, the shrine was rebuilt. For over 200 years, with 2 major restorations, the temple retains ancient architecture with timber frames and tiled roofs. The temple has 40 statues of red lacquer trimmed with gold, which has a number of precious objects like the Di Da Tam Ton, stone Buddha statues, Tieu Dien statue...


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