Located behind a range of limestone mountains in Gia Vien District, Ninh Binh Province, Bai Dinh Pagoda is famous for its great size and imposingness. Its back leans against the Bai Dinh Mountain with the height of 200m. The area of Bai Dinh Pagoda is 80ha, which is located on the mass of “Bai Dinh Pagoda hallowed culture” belonging to Trang An Tourism Area. In front of Pagoda valley is a huge semicircular lake, which is taken water from the river crossing to create a landscape of “on shore and under boat” like the Yen Stream flowing under the foot of Huong Tich Pagoda.
The most important emphasizing point of these great religion works are still Tam The (Past, Present and Future) Temple and Dharma Temple. The area of two Temples up to 1.000m2 (area of the main sanctuary of traditional pagodas is maximum about 150m2 because it is limited by compartments - stipulated by the length of wood beam). The height of Dharma Temple is up to 22m, it contains four achieving record statues inside.
Four statues - three bronze Tam The statues and one Great Buddha Sakyamuni statue - are the pride of “Owners” of Bai Dinh pagoda. Each statue of Tam The weighs 50 tons, 12m high, Great Buddha Sakyamuni statue with 16m high and weighs 100 tons, which are casted by the pure bronze bought from Russian, casted and installed by the famous Artisans of casting bronze statue in Y Yen, Nam Dinh. A “great bell” with the weight of 60 tons was casted and located on the top of hill on the way come to the main sanctuary. The Great Bell is so big that it is estimated if wanting to sound the bell, it will need a big log of wood and four pullers to prod into the bell.
The astonishing one is the “collection” of 500 Arhat statues on the hill in the right of Dharma Temple. The 500 Arhat statues with the height of 2.3m, carved by Ninh Binh stone. According to the supervisor for executing at the site, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Truong - investor and his collaborator came to China to learn and take the sample drawings of 500 Arhat’s legend and brought to home country for the painters, carvers to make the sample statue of gypsum, after that the craftsmen carved the statues again by monolithic green stone.
Ecologically and historically rich, the Bai Dinh Pagoda Mountain was recognized as a cultural and historical heritage site in 1997. Bai Dinh Pagoda has become the largest religious tourist centre in Viet Nam. As a great historical relic, Bai Dinh Pagoda cherishes both enchanting scenery and deep history.