Temple declared a national site

Temple declared a national site

HANOI (Reuter): Vietnam said yesterday that a 395-year-old temple in Hue, known as a seat of Buddhist dissent, had been officially declared a national heritage site.

The announcement, carried in state newspapers, followed warnings by an overseas Buddhist watchdog group that Hanoi was seeking to take control of the Linh Mu temple, a treasured monument of Vietnamese Buddhism.

The English-language Vietnam News said senior clergymen had been handed a certificate of recognition by government officials during a ceremony on Wednesday attended by Buddhist monks, followers and local villagers.

The immediate effect of the move was not clear, but an official at the National UNESCO Committee in Hanoi said the decision meant the Culture Ministry would fund preservation work and determine the temple's future usage.