Tran Quoc Pagoda in Hanoi has been listed among the top 10 incredibly beautiful pagodas in the world by UK travel website wanderlust.co.uk.

Located on a small peninsula east of West Lake, Tran Quoc Pagoda is the oldest in the capital at 1,500 years old and was recently voted the most beautiful in the world.

The site also highlighted the enchanting beauty of the pagoda’s lakeside location, where visitors are given incense to burn at the various shrines within the compound. The Bodhi tree is also praised as one of most beautiful features in Tran Quoc Pagoda. It grew from a cutting taken from the original tree in Boh Gaya in India, under which the Buddha sat and achieved enlightenment.

This is not the first time that a foreign website has honored Tran Quoc Pagoda. In 2016, the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper also listed it among one of the 16 most beautiful pagodas in the world.

On the banks of West Lake and bearing architecture typical of Vietnamese Buddhism, the pagoda is like a blooming lotus on the water. It features an eleven-story tower at a height of 15 meters, each of which has six vaulted windows and each window has an Amitabha Buddha statue in precious gems. On the top of the tower is a lotus made from precious gems.

The tower was built parallel to a Bodhi tree. Its construction is meant to indicate that Buddhism is pure and gracious like the lotus tree, growing quietly but strongly with a pleasant, fresh fragrance. Buddhism is like a lotus; never polluted and always beautiful and fresh despite environmental conditions. The Bodhi tree also represents the enlightenment and wisdom of Buddha, as well as humanitarianism.

The pagoda is a sacred place for Buddhists in the city in particular and in the country in general and is linked to much of Vietnam’s history and Buddhism in the capital.

Other incredibly beautiful pagodas on the list included Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xian (China), Yellow Crane Pagoda in Wuhan (China), Toji Pagoda in Kyoto (Japan), Taoist Temple in Cebu (the Philippines), Kew Gardens in London (UK), Three Pagodasin Dali (China), Chureito Pagoda in Fujiyoshida (Japan), The Pagoda on Skyline Drive in Pennsylvania (US), and Taipei 101 in Chinese Taipei.

VN Economic Times