Nguyen Huy Tu Temple is located in Can Loc District, Ha Tinh Province in the north central region of Vietnam. The temple is dedicated to Nguyen Huy Tu (1743-1790) who was a historical, cultural celebrity under Le Trung Hung Dynasty in Vietnam. He was also the ancestor of Nguyen Huy family in Truong Luu Village.
Woodblocks
Nguyen Huy Tu temple preserves nearly 400 woodblocks of Phuc Giang School (also called Truong Luu woodblocks). The woodblocks carve Han – Nom scripts for printing books for teaching and examination in the feudal time in Vietnam. They were compiled, preserved by Nguyen Huy family and were recognized as a UNESCO World Documentary Heritage under the World Memory Program in the Asia and Pacific in May 2016.
Architecture
With the total area of 200m² and the architecture in the shape of Han character (二) “Nhi” (Two), Nguyen Huy Tu Temple includes Thuong (Upper) sanctum and Ha (Lower) sanctum. The former consists of 3 spaces, of which the middle space is place for worship of Nguyen Huy Oanh and Nguyen Huy Tu.
The latter has 3 spaces, 2 gables and 4 roof corners decorated with dragons; its central space is placed with iron wood bed carved “Tho” (寿) (longevity) Han letter and 4 sacred animals including dragon, unicorn, tortoise and phoenix.
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