Qua Son Temple is located in Boi Son commune, Do Luong district, Nghe An province, built in the Ly Dynasty to worship Uy Minh Vuong Ly Nhat Quang

Ly Nhat Quang is the eighth son of King Ly Thai To. In 1039, he was sent to Nghe An to be in charged of taxation,  then appointed the first district chief of Nghe An province in 1041,the chief town located in Bach Duong (now known as 03 communes of Ngoc Son, Lam Son and Boi Son of Do Luong district) and was conferred the title of Uy Minh Vuong in 1044.

During his reign here, he made many great contributions to economy, politics, culture, society, security and defense such as: establishment of Trai Ba Hoa to supply military provisions for  King Thai Tong to expand Southern borders, construction of roads ,excavation of canals, embankment, further establishment of 52 Chau, 22 Trai and 56 Sach (Chau, Trai, Sach are administrative units in the past),etc.. He contributed to help people have stable lives, developed the economy, hold fast to borders,which made neighboring countries admire.

Ly Nhat Quang died on December 17, Dinh Dau year (Ding You) (1057). His corpse wasburied in Qua Mountain.The court mourned and built his temple on the old chief town, next to his tomb. In addition, there are about 40 temples built for his worship in Nghe An region. Throughout the ages, there have been honors and titles for him.

Qua Son is listed in“quoc te,quoc tao”(worshipping at the national level). The temple wasrestored many times in the Later Le and Nguyen dynasties. In the early twentiethcentury,the Temple became a large-scale complex, consisting of 7 buildings, in a beautiful location, considered as “tu dai thang tich”(four great landscapes are ConTemple,Qua Temple, Bach Ma Temple,Chieu Trung Temple) of Nghe An region.

In 1952, the Temple suffered heavy damage from war. Only the ancient stele and His tomb remained. The ebb and flow of history, the harshness of the weather and damage caused by wars has made Qua Son relics seriously degraded.Today’s Qua Son Temple no longer retains the same scale and stature as before.

In 1995, implementing the policy of preserving, restoring and embellishing historical and cultural relics of the nation, with the help of the Culture branch of Nghe An province, according to the people’s wishes, the People’s Committee of Do Luong district and the authorities of 3 communes Boi Son, Ngoc Son, Lam Son  rebuilt Qua Son Temple right at its old location, including 5 buildings: Upper shrines, Middle shrines,  Lower shrines, Ta Vu, Huu Vu (Ta Vu,Huu Vu are two small pagodas on two sides), steles and Tomb of Uy Minh Vuong Ly Nhat Quang,…. These were folk architectural works of temples, pagodas and wooden houses available in the area that people bought and donated to put together an item shaped like an old temple before.

In 1999, Qua Son Temple was ranked as a National Historic Site at Decision No. 05/QD-BVH dated 12/02/1999.

In 2009, the People’s Committee of Nghe An province allowed the implementation of the investment project of preserving and embellishing the national historical site of Qua Son Temple at Decision No. 4620/QD-UBND dated September 14, 2009.

In 2011, the People’s Committee of Nghe An province approved the 1/500 detailed planning to preserve and embellish the national historical site of Qua Son Temple at Decision No. 1817/QD-UBND dated May 24, 2011.

In 2014, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism appraised the project of Conservation and embellishment of the national historic site of Qua Son Temple in Official Dispatch No. 2971/BVHTTDL-DSVH dated August 28, 2014 on the assessment of the Temple’scurrentstatus.

In 2016, the People’s Committee of Nghe An province issued Decision No. 3200/QD-UBND dated July 14, 2016 approving the adjustment of the Decision to allow the establishment of investment projects to build the conservation and embellishment of the national historical relic of Qua Son Temple.

On October 20, 2016, the People’s Committee of Nghe An province approved the project of Conservation and embellishment of the national historical relic of Qua Son Temple at Decision No. 5105/QD-UBND with a total planning area of 29,300m2. The scale of investment items appraised and approved included: main temple, Ta Vu house, Huu Vu house, Nghi Mon gates, nha hoa, nha canh, Lau ca vu, nha bia, grave area of Uy Minh Vuong Ly Nhat Quang, Tho Cong shrine, the boat house, Lau hoa vang,….. There were also other units such as management house, service house, gate, festival yard, …

In 2017, the Department of Cultural Heritage – Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism appraised the construction design of preservation and embellishment of the national historical monument Qua Son Temple in Official Letter No. 555/DSVH- DT on August 17, 2017.

In 2018, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued Official Letter No. 4007/BVHTTDL-DSVH dated August 31, 2018 on the agreement to adjust the project of preserving and embellishing the national historic site of Qua Son Temple. .

In 2019, the project of preserving and embellishing historical and cultural relics of Qua Son temple, Do Luong district was approved by the People’s Committee of Nghe An province at Decision No. 3771/QD-UBND dated September 25, 2019.

In 2021 – 2022 , Implementing the policy, Do Luong District People’s Committee  carried out the project of Conservation and embellishment of historical and cultural relics of Qua Son Temple with a total investment of more than 77.6 billion VND. Up to now,they have basically completed items such as the main temple, Ta Vu house, Huu Vu house, Nghi Mon gates , nha hoa, nha canh, grave area of Uy Minh Vuong Ly Nhat Quang, Tho Cong shrine, management house, service house,… Funding for project implementation is basically from socialization sources.

On September 4, 2018, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism signed Decision No. 3325/QD-BVHTTDL on announcing the list and recognizing the Qua Son Temple Festival as a national intangible cultural heritage and on October 1, 2018 People’s Committee of Nghe An province signed Decision No. 4367/QD-UBND to recognize Qua Son Temple as a tourist destination.

The preservation, embellishment and construction of Qua Son Temple to worship Uy Minh Vuong Ly Nhat Quang is necessary work to meet the legitimate aspirations of tourists and local people and to express deep gratitude to the first chief of Nghe An province, who had the merit of building the prosperous Hoan Chau land 1000 years ago including the land of Do Luong today.

To commemorate Uy Minh Vuong Ly Nhat Quang, the local authority yearly organizes an anniversary celebration on December 17 and a festival on January 19 and 20 in lunar year.