The Bến Dược Memorial Temple (Vietnamese: Đền tưởng niệm Bến Dược - Củ Chi[1]) is a cultural history project of the Communist Party Committee and people of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was built to memorialize the significant contributions of the soldiers and people who were killed in the Saigon-Gia Định region during the anti-American and anti-French fighting.[2] The temple is sited at the Bến Dược hamlet, Phú Mỹ Hưng village, end of the Củ Chi tunnels.[3]
On December 19, 1975, the first stage of the Memorial Monument was inaugurated to welcome many groups of people from inside and outside Vietnam to come to remember, burn incense and meditate. The City Committee of the Party, the People's Council, and the Vietnamese Fatherland Front chose the date of December 19 as the annual memorial day to recall and be grateful to the dead. Construction of the temple was started on May 19, 1993 on the 103rd birthday of President Ho Chi Minh. It is located on a 7-hectare plot in the historical heritage compound around the Củ Chi tunnels.
The Bến Dược Memorial Temple includes the following items:
Tam quan gateway has the architecture of the traditional style of the country with a line of round pillars, with the yin and yang tile. The gate has the curved designs and patterns of a village entrance but made with new materials. In the middle of Tam quan gateway is the signboard "Bến Dược Memorial Temple" and on the body of the pillars are the parallel sentences of the poet Bao Dinh Giang:
"To spread the heart for the whole country,
To bring the current of red blood for protecting the country
Having the mind to know the merit, sweet-smelling incense is burned one stick,
There is always the image in life; the stars are twinkling a thousand years."
The inscription house is a square house with double tile. In the middle is a stone tablet 3m high, 1.7m wide, and 0.25m thick and weighing 3.07 tons. This stone tablet is taken from one block of 18 ton stone from Ngũ Hành Sơn (Da Nang) and is carved by artisans with all kinds of unique patterns of the country
The writing carved on the stone tablet is titled "Eternally remember" of the poet Vien Phuong, which was chosen from a contest of 217 writings of 29 provinces and cities.
The architecture has the solemn and serene air of ancient temples of Vietnam.
The worship temple is organized in a U shape: the center is the altar of country, in the middle is the statue of Ho Chi Minh, on the top written: "For the country, forger ourselves. Eternally remember." On the left and right are two incense-tables to remember our ancestors, people and unknown soldiers. Along the left wall is the name of dead soldiers of the Party, and the right wall is the name of dead soldiers of the armed forces.
The names of dead soldiers are carved into a granite stone tablet with gilded letters. There are 44,520 "revolutionary martyrs'" names carved in the temple including Vietnamese mothers, "heroes", and "revolutionary martyrs", including 9,322 "revolutionary martyrs" from other provinces and cities.
There are three monumental pictures made of china outside the main temple wall, which were made by the University of Fine Arts, expressing the content: People reclaim waste land to establish the country; To give strength to resist against the invaders; Oppressed people rise up to fight to achieve victory.
Individuals frequently come to the monument to look for the names of relatives and comrades. The temple management board is able to inform them about places of burial and other details of dead soldiers.
The tower symbolizes the rise up to the pinnacle of future fame.
The tower has 9 floors and is 39m high. On the wall of the tower are many designs to express the life and struggle of the Cu Chi people - "an iron bulwark land of revolution". On the highest floor of the tower, we can see part of the revolution base from which some places have entered into the history of the Iron Triangle (Tam Giác Sắt) region.
From a region of full of craters stunted and devastated by war, now the Temple has a smooth, nice flower garden year-round with many kinds of precious trees sent as souvenirs by craftsmen and organizations. Notably, the Central, City and Provincial leaders have planted many kinds of precious trees in the flower garden in front of the Temple.
The flower garden behind the Temple has the symbol of the spirit of the country. It is made of granite 16m high and weighs 243 tons. The symbol is in the center of the flower garden with its face to the Saigon River. It is expressed by an image of a teardrop, symbolizing the loss and grief of many generations of Vietnamese people who fought to maintain their country. The whole symbol features a lotus flower caressed by a hand, making the visitors remember the lines of two folk songs:
Tap Moue the most beautiful thing is lotus flower
Vietnam the most beautiful thing is named Uncle Hồ
On the body of the symbol there are some carvings of Vietnamese historical events from the time of the country's establishment by Hùng Vương to independence day on April 30, 1975.
The basement of the temple has nine spaces on the theme of Saigon Cho Lon, resilient and indomitable, presenting the prominent war events of our people and soldiers in the Iron Triangle (Tam Giác Sắt) region in particular and Vietnam in general. They were to protest against the wars of the empire and its supporters. Those events come back to life by some imposing pictures, statues, sand tables, stage models, and sculptures. Each space presents a different historical period.
The Bến Dược Memorial Temple was made by architects, scientists, historians, politicians, construction engineers and anonymous people, making it a harmony of architecture, people, and the community. It precisely captures the national characteristic of Vietnam while showing its gentle spirit.