Wat
Chùa Cù Là Cũ
Chùa Cù Là Cũ is a Khmer Theravada Buddhist Wat in Châu Thành commune, An Giang province, Vietnam, with a museum of Khmer culture.[1]
History
The Wat's history spans more than 400 years. Until the 2025 reorganization it stood in Châu Thành district, Kiên Giang province.[1]
In June 1974, monks and lay followers of Cù Là Cũ, Cù Là Mới, Khlang Ong and Khlang Mương protested the arrest of monks under the Saigon government's general mobilization order. On June 10, 1974, four monks who led the protest were killed; their bodies were brought back to Cù Là Cũ for burial that afternoon. Their memorial stupa, the Cù Là stupa, was ranked a national historical relic in 1990, and a memorial is held each year on the tenth day of the sixth lunar month.[2]
Religious life
As of 2025, the abbot was Đại đức (Venerable) Danh Nhiệp. On June 27, 2025, the Wat inaugurated its Museum of Khmer Culture, begun in 2017 by the abbot and the Wat committee and built in Khmer style for 8 billion đồng given by lay followers and donors in Vietnam and abroad. The two-story building, 29 m (95 ft) long, 11 m (36 ft) wide and 29 m high, keeps Buddha images, old scriptures, ngũ âm (five-tone) instruments, traditional dress and photographs. Hòa thượng (Most Venerable) Danh Đổng and Hòa thượng Danh Lân of the provincial Sangha led the ceremony.[1]