Van Mieu

Brief Information

Văn Miếu looks like a temple complex, but its layout tells not only of the worship of Confucius. In 1076, Vietnam’s first university appeared here: princes and the sons of mandarins were taught on this same grounds. Therefore, the courtyards, gates, and passageways function as a visual scheme of the path of a learned person, not simply as a sequence of beautiful spaces.

The five courtyards are associated with the five elements, and the central road with Confucius’s “middle way.” After the university was moved to Huế, the temple went through destruction and restorations; in 2000, it was restored according to the original plan and using traditional materials. The most concise fact here is the stone steles with the names of examination laureates: they are not decoration, but preserved memory of the education system and selection of officials.

What to Notice First

You can compare the central road and the side passageways: the original text directly links them with different access, so the plan of the complex shows social hierarchy. At the entrance to the third courtyard stands the square Khuê Văn Pavilion; the commission gathered there to choose mandarins through a literary examination, and only those who passed successfully continued farther.

In the third courtyard, the combination of the pond, steles, and turtles is important. The steles with names stand on either side of the water, and the turtles beneath them are explained as a symbol of wisdom; 82 of the 117 tablets have survived. In the fourth courtyard, the main temple on 40 columns with dragons shifts attention from the examination to the veneration of Confucius. The fifth courtyard, with classrooms and dormitories, returns the place to its educational function: it is a reconstructed part, so it is especially noticeable here how the temple form is joined with the memory of the university.