Cống Vị Communal House Relic

Cống Vị near the city, land for growing flowers

Also skilled in farming, rice fills the house

Facing Phượng, the water flows winding

Green trees cast shade, birds sing.

(Ancient folk song)

The legend says: Hoàng Phúc Trung (later honored as Thành hoàng Lệ Mật), after retrieving the princess's body from the Thiên Đức River (Đuống River), refused titles and gold and silver, and only asked King Lý Thánh Tông for permission to move his village and several neighboring villages to the west of Thăng Long capital to reclaim wasteland and establish settlements, founding 13 camps including Cống Vị camp... The communal house is at alley 518 Đội Cấn Street. About 70m from the alley entrance, we encounter a beautiful landscape: on the right is a semicircular lake with a wall enclosing the clear blue water; on the right is a three-entrance gate with a banyan tree whose roots extend long and branches and leaves are lush, giving an ancient appearance. The elders here say the banyan tree associated with the communal house is nearly 300 years old. The communal house has an area of about 500 m².

In the center of the Đại bái hall is a lacquered and gilded horizontal plaque “Đại Vương tôn thần”; below is the large inscription “Thượng đẳng tối linh” gilded on a red background.

The three-bay main communal house is of the đầu hồi bít đốc tay ngai style; the roof ridge has raised twin dragons flanking the moon; the corner and side brackets are carved in relief with stylized leaf patterns interspersed with dragons, phoenixes, flowers, and leaves. The Đại bái is connected to the rear sanctuary by two longitudinal rooms in a “đinh” (T-shaped) architectural layout.

At the highest and deepest position in the rear sanctuary is an altar bearing a 1.3m-high statue of Hoàng Phúc Trung, wearing a winged official hat and a dragon robe with a mandarin square, holding a brush in one hand, with Left and Right attendants on either side. There are also several bronze ritual objects such as a censer and bronze gongs. In particular, the communal house currently keeps its oldest artifact, a bronze bell. The bell clearly bears the inscription “Hội Đại Lão các cụ làng Cống Vị cúng cho đình làng Cống Vị năm Cảnh Hưng (1740)” and several couplets... The altar in the rear sanctuary is built high, above is the large inscription “Thánh cung vạn tuể”. On both sides are ancient couplets still preserved in the communal house, praising the career of the tutelary god:

Seizing the giao dragon with courage surpassing all, in the Lý dynasty for thousands of generations his virtue remains deep

Receiving royal favor and remaining to establish settlements, in the dragon city thirteen camps are handed down

Rough translation:

Slaying the giao dragon with courage surpassing others, in the Lý dynasty for thousands of generations his fame still resounds

Riding a fine horse with gratitude and affection to establish settlements, west of the dragon city thirteen [camps]

And another couplet:

Most beautiful, most sacred, the saint's virtue sublimely protects the nation's prosperity.

Both civil and martial, his divine merit greatly brings the people peace and health.

Rough translation:

Absolutely beautiful, absolutely sacred, the saint's majestic virtue firmly protects the country

Both civil and martial, his immense merit helps the people live in peace.

Members of the Management Board of the Cống Vị village communal house relic said that through feudal dynasties, the Cống Vị village communal house received 7 royal edicts, but due to war and objective reasons they are now all lost. The communal house was built in the first year of Vĩnh Khánh (1729) under Lê Duy Phường.

Over time, from the rear sanctuary outward, almost everything was damaged. The most recent restoration and repair was in 1992–1994, funded by local people's contributions. Every year, to commemorate the merits of the tutelary god, on his birthday, the 13th day of the first lunar month, and his death anniversary, the 12th day of the first lunar month, incense-offering memorial ceremonies are held at Cống Vị communal house and the communal houses in the “Thập tam trại”. In particular, on the 23rd day of the third lunar month—the day Mr. Hoàng Quốc Trung led the Lệ Mật people to the west of the capital to reclaim wasteland and establish settlements—the people of the 13 camps return to Lệ Mật and, together with the people of the old homeland, organize a very solemn festival.

Cống Vị village communal house was ranked as a historical and architectural-artistic relic by the Hanoi City People's Committee in 1999.