The story of the "sacrificial" lim tree in the gilded main hall in Thanh land

Coming to the Lam Kinh special national relic site, visitors can witness many mysterious artifacts and stories such as: the love story of the "banyan - thi" tree, the guava tree that knows how to "laugh", ancient steles that are national treasures, heritage trees, the gilded main hall... In particular, the story of the "sacrificing" lim tree in the main hall still contains mysteries.

Leading us into the main hall, Ms. Le Thi Loan, a tour guide in Lam Kinh relic site, told us the story of the "sacrificial" lim tree, which is considered very sacred here.

According to Loan, Lam Kinh main palace was built right after King Le Thai To passed away (1433) and brought back to his hometown Lam Son (the current location of Lam Kinh special national relic site) for burial.

The main hall consists of 3 large halls, built on a large ground, 1.8m high from the Dragon yard. The ground plan of the hall is built in the shape of the letter Cong (I), a total of 3 buildings with 19 compartments and 4 wings.

The main hall has 138 columns and is the largest wooden architectural structure in the central area in Thanh Hoa.

Over time, the main hall has deteriorated. To preserve and restore it, in 2010, Thanh Hoa province rebuilt the main hall. It was restored to its original size, scale and architecture. After 12 years of restoration, the main hall will officially open to visitors in April 2022.

According to Ms. Loan, a very special thing was that, right before the project to recreate Lam Kinh main hall started, the tallest ancient lim tree in Lam Kinh forest (about 600 years old) was green and healthy, suddenly shed all its leaves and dried its branches. About half a year later, when the tree died, the design and construction had just been completed.

According to Ms. Loan, after the authorities cut down the lim tree, they discovered something strange. That is, usually, ancient lim trees that suddenly die will have their cores hollowed out, but this lim tree did not. The core of the tree was still a solid block, very convenient to make pillars for the main hall.

Coincidentally, when all the bark was removed, the core of the tree matched the base of the stone pillar of the old main hall, which was 80cm. The top of the tree fit the base of the pillar, and two branches were enough to make a small pillar and a beam. It is believed that the lim tree "sacrificed itself" to restore this main hall.

“Currently, the main pillar made from ironwood is placed in the back palace (the former resting place of the king), the most sacred forbidden place with a prime location. When erecting 138 pillars in the main palace, the main pillar was also erected first. This pillar stands near the dragon bed, the sleeping place of King Le Loi, as if guarding the king's sleep,” said Ms. Loan.

According to Vietnamnet