Gia Loc Communal House

Gia Loc Communal House, also known as Gia Luoc Communal House (its ancient name), is in Gia Loc Hamlet, Viet Hung Commune. This is an ancient land north of the Co Loa citadel. The place names Duc Noi, Gia Loc, Luong Quan, and Lo Giao are associated with the history of Loa Thanh and the An Duong Vuong - Thuc Phan dynasty.

Gia Loc Communal House dates from quite early and worships the village tutelary deity Dong Bang Dai Vuong. He was a talented general of the Trung Sisters, with great merits helping Trung Vuong's uprising to drive out To Dinh and resist Ma Vien in the Han dynasty. In the genealogy still kept at the communal house, compiled by Eastern Cabinet Grand Scholar Nguyen Binh in the Hong Phuc year (1572), and in historical records about the Trung Vuong uprising: Dong Bang was born in Duong Lam village (Son Tay); from childhood he studied and understood classics and histories; when grown he had strategic talent and was loved by everyone. When the Trung Sisters raised the flag of uprising to drive out the Han invaders, he and everyone joined the cause. Dong Bang was assigned by the Trung Sisters to guard the Northeast region. When he came to the Kinh Bac region and passed through Gia Loc camp, he saw the land here was beautiful, with picturesque mountains and water and dragon-and-tiger terrain similar to that of the former kings, so he established a command post at Gia Loc camp. At that time, the elders and people of Gia Loc camp all reported: Your great virtue has won people's hearts; surely we will be peaceful and able to make a living, and we ask to establish a garrison post, later to be a place of worship. He agreed and told the village elders and household officials: Since he made a garrison post here, punishments must be reduced so the people can live peacefully. He gave them 10 gold ingots to buy land.

Before setting out to attack To Dinh, he had buffaloes and cows killed and an altar set up to announce to Heaven, Earth, mountains, rivers, and all deities, and feasted the soldiers at the camp. He led the army straight to To Dinh's place and together with Trung Nu gathered soldiers, divided into five divisions to attack. In a short time, To Dinh's main army was defeated, the enemy general was captured, and 65 citadels built in Lingwai returned to the Nam Bang land. Three years later, the Han dynasty again sent Ma Vien to lead troops to invade our country; the enemy was very strong and numerous, the Trung Sisters were defeated and had to sacrifice themselves. At that time, Dong Bang brought his troops back to station at Gia Loc camp; he and his soldiers fought fiercely and died heroically right at Gia Loc camp on the 10th day of the 2nd lunar month. After his death, villages, wards, and camps all built shrines to worship him.

Gia Loc Communal House was built around the 18th century on a large, beautiful, high and airy plot with imposing architectural scale and beautiful natural landscape in the center of the village. Based on the architectural block, especially the remaining carved panels, Gia Loc Communal House shows the style of the Le Trung Hung period. In particular, the communal house still has a stele of the posterior deity dated Vinh Thinh 2nd year (1706). The current appearance of the communal house is due to renovation after the 18th century.

Notably, the communal house also preserves a royal edict from the 14th year of Vinh Thinh (1718).

Gia Loc Communal House faces south; in front is a large pond and the village's main road. The communal house has a 'Nhi' character architectural layout, including gate, courtyard, main hall, rear hall, and left and right wings.

The main hall consists of 5 bays, 2 lean-tos, one story, with four curved corners; the roof ridge is decorated with lemon flowers; the gable ends and roof corners are embossed with patterns of mac tail, chrysanthemum leaves, and kim heads. In front of the main hall are wooden folding doors. Inside the main hall, the roof-supporting trusses are made in the chong ruong style; the ruong beams on the upper beam are large, with both ends embossed with twisted cloud motifs; the side ruong are embossed with dragon heads and cloud and floral patterns, representing typical artistic value of the late Le Trung Hung and early Nguyen periods (about late 18th to early 19th century). On the dau du and dau nghe in the central and right bays, dragon heads are carved meticulously and elaborately. The panels on the right are embossed with the four sacred creatures (dragon, qilin, turtle, phoenix). The panels on the left are embossed with dragons, clouds, and flowers. In the central bay, most prominent is the splendid gilded and lacquered door curtain carved with openwork combined with relief carving, decorated with the theme of two dragons adoring the moon, the four sacred creatures, and the four seasons. Especially, all five bays of the communal house have wooden ceilings; the central bay has a well ceiling decorated with bagua symbols, the two side bays are simpler than the central one, but the truss supports and the chong ruong, ke, bay are all carefully and meticulously decorated with quite elaborate carvings of high artistic value.

The rear hall consists of 2 bays with 1 lean-to and 1 vaulted porch bay in front, built with gable walls and closed gables extending backward, separated from the rear roof of the main hall by a small courtyard. The rear hall has a high two-tiered chong diem roof. Between the rows of columns, wooden boards enclose a worship alcove. At the highest and most solemn position in the center of the rear hall are the throne, spirit tablet, and hat and robes of the village tutelary deity; on both sides are worshipped the queen mother who gave birth to the saint and a posterior deity of the village (Mr. Thi Noi thu ta, ta thieu giam Ban tuong hau Pham Dang Quy, a man of talent and virtue who often did good deeds to help the people. He bought wood to build the five-bay communal house and then donated to the commune 2 mau of rice fields, 300 quan of money, and ceremonial clothes. The commune elected him as posterior deity and offers sacrifices to him annually).

Overall, Gia Loc Communal House has a rather imposing architectural scale. Existing to this day, the communal house has undergone many repairs in different periods, so it bears distinctive marks of 18th-19th century architectural art. In some carvings of dragon heads and dau du, the artistic modeling of the Le period is strong. The wooden architectural components of the communal house are all decorated with meticulous carvings to reduce the heaviness of the frame and increase the aesthetic value of the work.

The communal house still preserves 01 genealogy, 04 royal edicts; 03 stone steles, the earliest stele bearing the Chinh Hoa 23rd year (1702), compiled by Nguyen Hanh, doctoral laureate in the Mau Thin year, and Dao Quoc Hien, doctoral laureate in the Tan Mui year. Both held the position of Boi tung thi noi thu ta ho phien. The other two steles bear the Vinh Thinh 2nd year (1706) and were both compiled by Mr. Truong Cong Giai, doctoral laureate of the At Mui examination. All three steles praise the merits of the posterior deity

Pham Dang Quy (rubbings of these three steles are currently kept at the Institute of Sino-Nom Studies).

Every two years, the people of Gia Loc village organize a festival to remember the merits of General Dong Bang on the 10th day of the second lunar month, the day of his deification, and the 12th day of the eighth lunar month, his birthday. The villagers prepare savory offerings to worship the village tutelary deity. During the festival, the villagers organize water procession and deity procession. The water procession includes a long palanquin, incense table, flags and fans, parasols, and two water jars (one for worship, one for cleaning ritual objects). After the water procession, the villagers perform sacrifices. The deity procession begins with lion dance and dragon dance. Then people carry swords, halberds, parasols, a wooden horse with saddle and bridle, a group carrying the five elements, an incense table, the bagua flag, streamers, banners, eight-tone command flags and fans, and finally the palanquin carrying the village tutelary deity. The festival also organizes traditional games such as cockfighting, wrestling, pot beating, chess, pigeon release, and performances of old tuong and quan ho singing... On the village festival day, people who have gone far away to make a living and daughters who have married elsewhere eagerly return to attend the festival.

Gia Loc Communal House was ranked as a national-level Historical and Architectural Artistic Relic by the Ministry of Culture and Information in Decision No. 06/2000/QD-BVHTT dated April 13, 2000.