Five kilometers from the center of Can Tho City, Bui Huu Nghia historical monument is one of tourist attractive destinations of Can Tho city.
Bui Huu Nghia (1807-1872) whose pen-name was Nghi Chi was a poet and district chief who was honest and loved people. In order to build a place of worship for people visiting and showing their great admiration for Bui Huu Nghia, from 2010 to 2014 the People’s Committee of Can Tho City invested nearly 60 billion in upgrading and building his temple on the area of 10.000m2 on Huynh Man Dat street, Bui Huu Nghia ward, Binh Thuy district.
The memorial area has been recognized as a National Historical Monument attracting thousands of tourists each year and become a symbol of patriotism education, inquiring mind and humble attitude for future generations.
The memorial area of Bui Huu Nghia has four major works including three large buildings in which the worship house is in the center, the showroom is on the left, the guest house is on the right, and the stele house is at the entrance to record his talent and virtue. His grave is located just after the worship house which has been upgraded with its dome and gravestone…
The main architectural style is the ancient like style with one meter diameter pillars being painted reddish brown; partitions and wooden worship tables being carefully carved; tiled eye-catching green roofs. The roof top is emphasized by a symbol of a fish-dragon couple and the four corners of the roof are prettified with wings of flying phoenixes.
Mr. Nguyen Than Hung- Head of the Management Board of Bui Hue Nigh National Historical Monument said that in 2014 Can Though City organized many cultural activities, cultural relics in the historical monument campus. On January 15th of Lunar year, the Union of Literature and Arts in Can Though City organizes “Vietnam Poetry Day” with activities of recitation and poetry comments here.
The death anniversary of Bui Hue Nigh is on January 20th of Lunar year and is organized with many of both ceremony and festival activities such as the ceremony of spiritual torch, thurifying to engrave the merit of his and his wife- Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ton who lived in My Khanh Village, Chinh My Thuong, Phuoc Chinh, Phuoc Long district, Bien Hoa province (Dong Nai Province now).
Mr. Duong Dinh Nhan, Deputy of Cultures and Sports Department of Binh Thuy district said that since the upgrading day of Bui Huu Nghia temple, its appearance has been larger and more solemn. The path to the temple was also redone nicely and creates good conditions for more people’s visits and offering incense. On average, each day has a dozen of visitors. On weekends, the number of visitors can increase up to nearly over 200 visits. On festival occasions, it has an average of around 300 visitors. On the First Full Moon Festival, on his death anniversary, the number of visitors rises up to thousands of people.
In addition, the local government also organizes the program of Bui Huu Nghia scholarships for students who have overcome their poor positions to study, poverty, groups of city students to the Monument area to visit and review Bui Huu Nghia’s glorious life to educate school tradition and patriotism, as well as his love for the people of the younger generation.
However, the Memorial Monument still has many items which need to be invested such as the burial site- where has a part of Bui Huu Nghia’s grave. The local government has discussed putting Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ton’s grave situated next to his with Dong Nai government. The Museum area exhibiting artifacts related to his life is still pretty small, so the local has planned to collect and enrich it.
https://www.cantho.gov.vn
