Bảo tàng lịch sử Quốc gia

The site of the pagoda Long Doi Son is in the hamlet of Doi Nhi, commune of Doi Son, district of Duy Tien (Ha Nam). This site is rather renowned in history for King Ly Nhan Tong has had constructed the sacred tower Sung Thien Dien Linh at this place in the second year Thien Pho Due Vu (1121). After a long existence, the tower has been completely destroyed by the Minh at the beginning of the XV^th century, though its image is always recorded in the annals and the popular tradition, especially in the soil of mount Doi.

In 2001, in the programme of study in order to restore the site Long Doi son, the National Museum of Vietnamese History and the Service of Culture and Information of Ha Nam have carried out the exploration and the excavation of the tower Sung Thien Dien Linh. Beside the determination of traces of architecture such as the floor and the foundations which are what remains from the tower, the excavation has received a great quantity of specimens having a great value for study and exhibition, chiefly types of material and of decorations of the sacred tower.

1. The vestiges of stone: there are until 3606 specimens, mostly of sandstone, type of stone currently used under the Ly and the Tran, beside a small quantity of limestone. The sandstone is grey blue and brown red, with big grains, and most of objects are broken. Among them are types of construction material of the tower: wedging pieces (wall columns, statues at wall corners), parallelepiped stone bars (bordering of foundations or support, with holes for wedges to fix the structures), consoles, hexagonal pieces…

Richer than construction materials are the architectural decorations with extremely refined lines, in which the images of dragons are the chief motive, carved in relief, the petals of lotus with single or multiple layer in combination with chrysanthemums, peonys, dragons playing with fire balls, which are pieces of pedestals of Buddha, the pedestal decorated with spirals combined with flowers and leaves, decorated with fire knives nearly like fire knives of phoenix, balustrades decorated with water waves, images of dancing fairies, with decorations of peonys and creepers. In particular, one finds statues of a human-headed bird (Kinari), with an intact specimen in a position characteristic of the art of the Ly, with the face raised, the chest protruded, the body curved, the wings spread in the two sides, the tail widely spread, nearly touching the head. Tha face of the statue is round, with noble features as those of a fairy, the nude arms playing a musical instrument. Prolonging the arms are two wings directed backward, the chest protruded, the belly withdrawn, the two legs strongly holding the pedestal, the three claws long and equal. The statue has powerful features in a position of taking flight (photo).

2. Earthenware vestiges: there are 351 specimens with various types. All specimens are made with refined clay, cooked in high temperature, which gives to the object a strong hardness, proof of a high degree of production applied to a material carefully selected, with bricks and tiles as main types. In particular, one finds architectural decorations used at the corners of the tower, among which most have been reduced to powder, but the decorations of which are extremely refined. Dragons are always among chief motives of decorations. The dragons are made in round volume or in bas-relief, with numerous undulations, which is the typical motive of the Ly. Then comes the image of the divine bird (Kinari) in the form of round statue or of bas-relief, or the statues of couples of mandarin ducks (fixed on shoe-nose tiles)(photo). After come motives of decorations of flowers and leaves, of clouds and water (chiefly on floor pavements and covering bricks, consisting in chrysanthemums, in widely opened lotuses), among which come out the decorations of strings of chrysanthemums in series circles, with detailed lines, giving the feeling of a brocade carpet covering the surface of the object (photo).

3. After a time of ordering, of restoration of the numerous vestiges in order to contemplate the physionomy and the grandiose extent of the sacred tower Sung Thien Dien Linh, to complete the knowledges on the sculpture and the architecture under the Ly, the vestiges are now conserved and exhibited at the Museum of Ha Nam to be valorized.

Nguyen Van Doan