Vinh Nghiem Pagoda Festival is held annually in the second lunar month. — File Photo

HA NOI (VNS) — The northern province of Bac Giang's Vinh Nghiem Pagoda Festival was officially recognised as a national intangible cultural heritage yesterday.

The title-receiving ceremony was held within the framework of the annual pagoda festival, from 12th to 14th in the second lunar month, which falls between March 12 and 14, this year.

The festival features a procession, prayer service for peace and prosperity, and other traditional cultural activities.

The pagoda hosts a wide-ranging stock of over 3,000 woodblocks printed with Buddhist scriptures, most of them dating back to the 17th-19th century, and received the recognition of the World Documentary heritage in the UNESCO's World Memory Programme of Asia-Pacific in 2012.

The Vinh Nghiem Pagoda is also known as the "grand temple". It was a major Buddhist centre during the Tran Dynasty and played an important role in the lives of the three founders of Truc Lam Zen Buddhism: Tran Nhan Tong, Phap Loa, and Huyen Quang.

The pagoda was recognised as a national, historical, and cultural site in 1964. — VNS