High Middle Ages · Southeast Asia · Culture

1036

Ly Thai Tong builds One Pillar Pagoda

1036

At Thang Long the Vietnamese king constructed the Dien Huu Pagoda, whose central structure rises from a single stone pillar planted in a lotus pond. Legend held that the design came to the king in a dream, in which the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara appeared seated on a lotus blossom. The pagoda became one of Vietnam's most recognizable architectural symbols.