Dong Bang Communal House

Hanoi is the capital, the national political and administrative center, and one of Vietnam's major cultural, historical, and tourism centers. With a long history, longstanding cultural traditions, and a rich heritage system, Hanoi currently preserves many historical-cultural relics, architectural-artistic relics, traditional festivals, and tangible and intangible cultural values of special significance. These are important resources for developing cultural tourism and community tourism, contributing to promoting the image of a cultured, civilized, modern, and identity-rich capital.

Among the system of historical-cultural relics in the capital,

Dong Bang Communal House , Dong Bang Village, Vat Lai Commune, Hanoi City, is an artistic architectural work of historical, cultural, and religious value and a typical communal house of the Doai region bearing the characteristics of a Le Dynasty communal house of the 17th-18th centuries. With the presence of distinctive architectural features in its structure and carving art from the Le to the Nguyen dynasties, Dong Bang Communal House has preserved part of the architectural history of the traditional northern communal house.

Based on the “Hung Tao Bi Ky” stele (a stele recording the work of construction), under the Canh Hung 17 era (1756), the communal house was founded and restored in the year (1756), is a place of worship of the Three Tan Vien Son Thanh deities, combined with the remote worship of Lord Phung Lan Ho. These are figures revered and worshiped by local people, associated with the historical tradition and religious life of the Dong Bang village community through many generations.

With outstanding historical, cultural, and artistic architectural values, The Dong Bang Communal House relic was ranked by the Ministry of Culture as a National-level Artistic Architectural Relic under Decision No. 513-QD/BVHTTDL dated February 13, 2015. The ranking of the relic is an important basis for the locality to carry out the management, protection, restoration, embellishment, and promotion of the relic's values in accordance with regulations; at the same time, it contributes to preserving traditional historical, cultural, and religious values, educating traditions for generations, and serving the people's cultural and religious activities.

Dong Bang Communal House has a rather imposing architectural scale, including the Dai Bai main hall, a tube-shaped corridor, and a rear sanctuary. Each architectural building bears the imprint of ancient architectural art from the 17th-19th centuries; the Dai Bai hall is typical with four curved roof corners and a carving of “Lao Long Huan Tu” in the linked structural style of the roof truss. Connected to the Dai Bai hall is an exquisite tube-shaped corridor with dragon carvings at both ends. Next is the rear sanctuary with a typical worship niche structure, featuring carvings on the niche, railing, and niche floor. With outstanding historical, cultural, and architectural values and a strong Le Dynasty communal house style, Dong Bang Communal House contributes to enriching the system of ancient communal houses in Ba Vi, the Doai region in particular, and the whole country in general. Dong Bang Communal House is a potential destination in cultural tourism development of Vat Lai Commune in particular and Hanoi City in general. The preservation and promotion of the relic's values associated with introducing and promoting traditional cultural values will contribute to forming distinctive cultural tourism products, attracting visitors to explore history, artistic architecture, and the cultural life of the local community.

Through the preservation and promotion of the values of Dong Bang Communal House, present generations have the opportunity to access and learn more deeply about the history, culture, and traditional arts of their ancestors; at the same time, it contributes to raising community awareness in heritage protection, building a healthy cultural environment, promoting local cultural identity, and contributing to the goal of sustainable tourism development of the capital Hanoi.