Vinh Tuy Doai Communal House Historical - Artistic Relic

Vinh Tuy Doai Communal House is located at 35A Vinh Tuy Street, Vinh Tuy Ward, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi. According to Han-Nom documents, the communal house is a place of worship for Nha Cat Dai Vuong and Princess Nguyet Nga.
The communal house was built around the late 15th century and early 16th century. During the resistance war against the French (1945-1954), Vinh Tuy Doai Communal House was a gathering place for people going into Hanoi to seize power in 1945; it was one of the bases of the guerrilla militia and a place where revolutionary cadres assembled and held discussions. In 1947, the communal house also housed the headquarters of the Vinh Tuy Doai Front, so the communal house was completely destroyed by the French colonialists. With the attention of the local government, the communal house was restored (reconstructed) in the style of Late Le dynasty architecture and inaugurated in 2012.
The communal house layout includes: a ceremonial gate, a screen wall, a brick courtyard, two rows of Left and Right corridors (each with 3 bays), the main Great Hall, and a rear sanctuary. The highlight of the communal house comes from its wooden architecture - entirely of lim wood (accounting for 90% of the structure); the wooden architecture is not painted red or gilded but left natural, with many elaborate carvings in the artistic style of the 20th century, adding material for the study of folk architecture in the capital Hanoi.
Currently, the relic still preserves a collection of cultural artifacts of historical value. Among them are two royal edicts dated the 4th year of Thieu Tri (1844) and the 9th year of Khai Dinh (1924), confirming that the deities Nha Cat and Princess Nguyet Nga are worshipped at the communal house. In addition, the system of carved wooden artifacts of the communal house such as: dragon thrones, deity statues, horizontal plaques, couplets, altar curtains, incense tables, shrine cabinets, stone incense burners ... are exquisitely carved with traditional decorative motifs.
The communal house festival takes place on the 1st day of the 2nd lunar month and the 10th day of the 8th lunar month every year, in order to promote the tradition of 'When drinking water, remember its source' and preserve national cultural identity.
Vinh Tuy Doai Communal House - a historical and cultural relic imbued with traditional ancient architecture and rich in historical content - was recognized as a City-level Historical - Artistic Relic by the Hanoi People's Committee in 2014.