Khê Tang Thượng Communal House

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Khê Tang Thượng Communal House is located in Thượng Hamlet, about 500 m from the Lower Communal House and near the village's ancient pagoda.

The communal house faces west, with a lake and rows of ancient trees in front, creating a sacred atmosphere. Right by the lake is a scroll-shaped screen embossed with a pair of facing dragons, phoenixes holding scrolls, and five bats symbolizing the five blessings. The gate is built in the five-gate style with five main entrances; in the center are two large pillars with embossed figures, topped by a pair of nghê creatures meaning spiritual guardianship. The two side doors are faux two-story, eight-roof structures with small pillars embossed with leaf motifs. Adjacent to the two side doors are the left and right side halls, built with gable walls and roofed with ri tiles. The roof trusses here are of the “stacked beam” type.

The square pavilion is a square building occupying most of the communal house courtyard. It is built in a two-story, eight-roof style linked to Yijing studies. The upper roof has no “fly-screen” system, so the four roofs are equal, with only four brackets carved at their ends into the communal house. This style shows Chinese influence at the end of the 20th century. The square pavilion houses a set of procession objects, parasols, eight treasures, and an incense altar.

The main worship hall is a rather massive building with a structure of three bays and two lean-tos. Its trusses are made in the “gia chiêng stacked-beam with con nhị” style, strongly bearing the mark of the Lê Dynasty under the Chính Hòa era. This is an architectural form with both kẻ and bẩy elements. On the transverse beams and beam ends are carvings of dragon heads and mythical beasts with Lê-style curved blades. Notably, the ornate archway in the central bay was decorated later than the original construction of the communal house but also strongly bears the sculptural art mark of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The dragons carved here have brush-like tails, and the phoenixes appear to be soaring and dancing.

The rear sanctuary is a structure newly built in the early 20th century, forming a Dinh-shaped layout. Its trusses are of the “tie-beam” type, mainly planed smooth and tightly joined, emphasizing durability.

Like the Lower Communal House, the Upper Communal House worships Saint Trần, namely Trần Quốc Tuấn (1232–1300), and Trần Thông. Both had merits in the resistance war against the Mongol-Yuan invasion of our country in the 13th century.

With such outstanding values, the Lower and Upper Communal Houses were ranked as architectural and artistic relics by the Ministry of Culture and Information in 1986.