Dong Phi Communal House

1. Type and Ranking: It is an Architectural - Artistic relic. It was recognized and ranked by the Minister of Culture and Information under Decision No. 985-QD/VH dated May 7, 1997 as National-level Relic.

2. Worshipped Figure and Historical Value

• Worshipped Figure: The communal house worships the village tutelary deity, Great King Huynh Viet Tuong Cong (Great King Bach Tuong).

• Divine legend: He, together with his younger brother (De Viet Dia Cong) and his cousin (Do Dai), were famous generals who made great contributions in helping Dinh Tien Hoang (Dinh Bo Linh) quell the rebellion of the 12 warlords and unify the country in the 10th century. He was conferred by Dinh Tien Hoang the title 'Chief of the Military Affairs Office' and commanded the land and naval forces in Son Tay.

• Merits with the locality: The three brothers were granted a fief by the king in Dong Phi Commune. They founded three villages (Dong Phi, Nguyen Xa, Ngoc Dong), taught the people to plow and cultivate, raise silkworms and weave cloth, train in weapons to protect the village, and build solidarity.

• Historical events: Dong Phi is located on Strategic Road 75 (the former Khu Chay), a resistance base, so the relic area was once savagely bombarded by the French colonialists. After peace, the people contributed their efforts to restore and embellish the communal house.

3. Architectural and Artistic Characteristics

• Construction history: Initially, the communal house was small, made of wood and thatched with leaves. By the late Le period, it was expanded into a single-row layout. In the Nguyen period, the communal house continued to be expanded on a massive scale (adding a three-entrance gate, Great Hall, and Quyen Bong), but it was destroyed by the French. The current communal house is a structure restored by the people.

• Current layout: It includes the three-entrance gate, Main Worship Hall, and Rear Sanctuary (longitudinal communal house).

• Three-entrance gate and Main Worship Hall: The three-entrance gate has 3 bays, and the Main Worship Hall has 3 bays roofed with ri tiles, with the ridge decorated with a moon face and dragons. Wooden columns rest on ancient lotus-shaped stone bases, and the trusses are carved with floral and seal-script motifs.

• Rear Sanctuary (longitudinal communal house): It extends to the rear, with a stacked-beam and cantilever bracket structure. In the Front Hall section of the longitudinal communal house, two valuable bracket panels carved with the theme 'Four Sacred Creatures' (dragon, ly, turtle, phoenix) and four bas-reliefs of 'plum blossoms transforming into dragons and phoenixes' are still preserved.

4. System of Relics and Antiquities Dong Phi Communal House preserves a treasure trove of very rare heritage from the Le Trung Hung and Nguyen periods:

• Ancient Documents: 01 deity genealogy compiled by Nguyen Binh, Great Scholar of the East Pavilion of the Hanlin Academy, in the first year of Hong Duc (1572), and 26 royal decrees of investiture (the oldest bears the 4th year of Duc Long - 1632).

• Stone artifacts (extremely rare):

  • 01 stone incense pillar made in the 10th year of Chinh Hoa (1689), with a tower named 'Huu Phat Ho Tri' placed on top, made of terracotta and ceramic, consisting of 3 stories and 12 curved knife-edge roofs.

  • 02 stone slabs incised with dragon images in sunk relief bearing strong Le-period artistic features.

• Other worship objects: 03 incense tables, 01 altar niche, 01 bat cong palanquin, 01 long dinh (all lacquered red and gilded), a six-piece bat buu set, 04 horizontal lacquered boards, 04 pairs of parallel couplets, along with many bronze and ceramic objects (censers, incense bowls, decorative vases, etc.).

5. Worship rituals

• The deities passed into immortality on the 9th day of the 12th lunar month. King Dinh Tien Hoang once personally came to the place of transformation, established a national altar, and bestowed the honorific title 'Van Co Huyet Thuc'.

• The communal house is the center of the village's cultural life, a place for educating patriotism and solidarity, a meeting place for the Elderly Association, Farmers Association, and Youth Union, and a venue for organizing traditional festivals of gratitude to predecessors.