Giac Lam Pagoda was built in 1744, in the main hall and the nest tower decorated with more than 7,000 ceramic dishes, recognized a Vietnamese record.

As the ancestor of the Zen Lam Te Tong sect in South Vietnam, Giac Lam Pagoda (Lac Long Quan Street, Tan Binh District) has another name, Cam Son or Cam Dem. The pagoda has an area of ​​nearly 29,000 m2, located on a high hillock, built in the style of Nam Bo pagoda, so initially there was no tam gate. Until 1955, a new three-door gate was built.

The pagoda has a surface in the form of a triangle, consisting of three rows of horizontal houses, which are: the main hall, the lecture hall and the house of the boy. Through three major restoration times, the pagoda has more works such as the ancestral tower, the Xa Loi stupa, the lecture hall, the house of the temple …

The cake-shaped pagoda roof is less common in Southern architecture, creating a sense of rusticness and intimacy. The roof consists of four flaps with straight ridge lines, different from the typical blade-top edge of the northern architecture. On the top of the roof, there is a familiar image of “two dragon paintings,” in Vietnamese pagoda culture.

The main hall was built like an old house with a room with two wings and four pillars. Inside the electricity is quite wide and deep, there are 56 large dark brown columns. Each column is engraved with the opposite sentence, painted with elaborate gold lacquer.

Located in the center of the main hall is the Buddha statue and bodhisattvas placed on the Three Jewels table. Most statues are made of wood, dating back hundreds of years.

Around the pagoda there are 113 ancient statues, most of which are wooden, only 7 bronze statues. Valuable statues of Amitabha Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, Jizō King Bodhisattva, Ten Eighth Arhat … The statues are carved by the group of artists in Binh Duong, Can Duoc early 19th century.

In particular, on the top of the wall of the main hall are more than 6,000 decorative plates.

Right next to the main hall, Hong Hung nest tower also attached more than 1,000 decorative plates. Other towers around the temple built in 1900, where the remains of the monks of each abbot are located.

The decorative plates are mainly fired in a ceramic kiln at Lai Thieu (Binh Duong), some originating from China, Japan … The decorative plates were attached around the first half of the 20th century.

With more than 7,000 decorative plates, Giac Lam Pagoda currently owns a record: The pagoda has the most number of decorative plates in Vietnam.

In front of the temple is a hexagonal 7-storey relic stupa. The tower was started in 1970, but was suspended until 1993 to continue construction.

The garden in the temple grounds is large with many green trees, under the decoration of worship, Buddha statues. The highlight is the ancient bodhi tree, brought from the island nation of Sri Lanka in 1953. Giac Lam Pagoda is one of the oldest temples in Saigon, recognized as a national historical-cultural relic in 1988. , attracting many visitors.

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