Located in the southern area of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long (Hanoi today), the Temple of Literature was built in 1070 under the Ly Dynasty, dedicated to Confucius, scholars and sages, and functioned as Vietnam’s first national university. Overall, the Temple’s construction is divided into five main courtyards, featuring five different architectures separated by 5 gates, in turn of Van Mieu Gate, Great Middle gate (Dai Trung), Pavilion of the Constellation of Literature, Gate of great synthesis (Dai Thanh), and Thai Hoc Gate from the main entrance.
Pavilion of the Constellation of Literature is positioned in the third courtyard of the Temple that was built in 1805 under the Nguyen Dynasty inside Van Mieu area by order of Nguyen Van Thanh – the Commander of the Northern Citadel at that time. Primarily, Commander Nguyen Van Thanh ordered to entirely build this construction with wood, presenting elegant, glorious, and extensive features that deserved to be a significant part of Thang Long Imperial Citadel. The Pavilion was all completed in August 1805.
The pavilion now is a 2-storey complex made of bricks and wood, showing its clear reflection on the Thien Quang Well. Specifically, its ground floor is formed by 4 brick pillars engraved the images of clouds with the equal dimension of 85 cm x 85 cm. Those pillars were all designed to stand on a square bricks base of 6.8 cm x 6.8 cm. Meanwhile, the upper floor is all made of wooden frames, standing on the brick pillars and having four round windows that face four different directions to attract as much sunlight as possible, making it shining like a constellation. Indeed, the Oriental people truly considered this star the symbol of literature that was really respectfully worshiped by scholars.
Actually, the Pavilion of the Constellation of Literature has strongly represented the country’s breadth of vision on the public education system and Vietnamese people’s learning spirit as well. By that way, this place truly deserves for being a symbol of Hanoi and Vietnam’s culture for centuries.