page_title: Temple of Literature, Hanoi
section_title: Stelae of Doctors
hierarchical_section_title: Temple of Literature, Hanoi / Layout / Stelae of Doctors
caption_attribution_description: English: Stelae of Doctors at the Temple of Literature, Hanoi.
context_page_description: Văn Miếu is a temple dedicated to Confucius in Hanoi, northern Vietnam. The temple also hosts the Imperial Academy, Vietnam's first national university. The temple was built in 1070 at the time of Emperor Lý Thánh Tông. It is one of several temples in Vietnam which is dedicated to Confucius, sages and scholars. The temple is located to the south of the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long. The various pavilions, halls, statues and stelae of doctors are places where offering ceremonies, study sessions and the strict exams of the Đại Việt took place. The temple is featured on the back of the 100,000 Vietnamese đồng banknote. Just before the Vietnamese New Year celebration Tết, calligraphists will assemble outside the temple and write wishes in Hán characters. The art works are given away as gifts or are used as home decorations for special occasions.
context_section_description: The construction of the stone stelae began in 1484 under the Emperor Lê Thánh Tông. He erected 116 steles of carved blue stone turtles with elaborate motifs to honour talent and encourage study. The Turtle (Quy, 龜) is one of the nation's four holy creatures - the others are the Dragon (Long, 龍), the Unicorn (Ly, 麟) and the Phoenix (Phượng, 鳳). The turtle is a symbol of longevity and wisdom. The shape and size of the turtle changed with the passage of time.
  The doctors' steles are a valuable historical resource for the study of culture, education and sculpture in Vietnam. 82 stelae remain. They depict the names and birth places of 1307 graduates of 82 triennial royal exams. Between 1442 and 1779, eighty-one exams were held by the Lê dynasty and one was held by the Mạc dynasty. The ancient Chinese engravings on each stele praise the merits of the monarch and cite the reason for holding royal exams. They also record the mandarins who were tasked with organising the exams. It used to be common to rub the stone turtles' heads, but now there is a fence that is meant to prevent people from doing this in order to preserve the turtles.
  They are a valuable historical resource for the study of philosophy history, culture, education, society and sculpture in Vietnam. The stalae were inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2011.
caption: Turtle Steles with the names of those successful at the royal exams
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