Tourism: 13th century pilgrimage | CLAD

Yên Tu Mountain is considered to be the cradle of Trúc Lâm Zen Buddhism in Vietnam – around two million pilgrims from the region visit Yên Tu each year to pay homage to Buddha-enlightened King Tran Nhân Tông, who established the Trúc Lâm Yên Tu Zen sect there in the 13th century. Now, the Vietnamese government has a strategic development plan for the area, and architect Bill Bensley is working on a national cultural heritage site to include a hotel, shops, museum, wellness centre, restaurants and market with shops and stalls selling local arts and crafts and organic produce from Yên Tu Mountain.