Động Tam Thanh

Useful Information

Location:	Tam Thanh Ward, west of Ky Lua Street, Lang Son City. (21.8555666, 106.7467985)
Open:	All year daily. [2024]
Fee:	Adults VND 20,000. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave Cave Church
Light:	Incandescent Coloured Light
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Động Tam Thanh.
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History

Description

The entrance portal of Động Tam Thanh (Tham Thanh Cave, Tham Thanh Grotto) is 8 m high. It is followed by a passage with 30 steps carved into the cave floor, followed by a Buddhist temple. Ngo Thi Si (*1726-✝1780) was a famous local politician and poet. He carved one of his poems into the cave wall, while he was a Mandarin guard in Lang Son. It praises the magnificent natural beauty of the area and the sound of the waterfalls.

The cave is very large with three huge chambers and a cave lake. An opening provides views of rice fields outside. The outer chamber on the right contains the Tam Giao Pagoda from 1777 with six shrines. More shrines exist in the second chamber. The karst tower is crossed by the Ngoc Tuyen River underground, which can be seen in the cave. The cave entrance is the river sink, a view which is quite spectacular.

Động Tam Thanh and Động Nhị Thanh are only 700 m apart, both are on the western outskirts of the capital Lạng Sơn. The Ngoc Tuyen River flows through bot caves, it enters the karst tower at the river sink of Động Tam Thanh and reappears in the portal of Động Nhị Thanh. Then it flows into Sông Kỳ Cùng river. Both caves were discovered in the 18th century by Ngô Thin Sy, a military commander at the Lạng Sơn garrison.