Kim Quan Communal House

It is commonly called Kim Quan Communal House, belonging to Kim Quan 1 Hamlet, Thach That Commune. Kim Quan Communal House was recognized as an architectural and artistic relic by the Ministry of Culture and Information under Decision No. 2009/QD dated November 15, 1991.

It is commonly called Kim Quan Communal House, belonging to Kim Quan 1 Hamlet, Thach That Commune.

Kim Quan Communal House was recognized as an architectural and artistic relic by the Ministry of Culture and Information under Decision No. 2009/QD dated November 15, 1991.

The communal house faces the bank of the Tich River with a spectacular landscape, making the already grand and beautiful relic even more famous in the region. The entrance is the Nghi Mon ceremonial gate; behind it is a large courtyard, with Ta Vu and Huu Vu wings, a drum house, and a gong house built on both sides. That is the overall structure of the ancient communal house; over the years, some small architectural items have deteriorated and been lost.

At present, Kim Quan Communal House remains with the Dai Bai main worship hall and the Hau Cung rear sanctuary. The Dai Bai building consists of 5 bays and 6 rows of large columns, still preserving the 17th-century architectural style “thuong giuong ha ke”, demonstrating the scale of a large communal house. The diameter of the main columns is 0.53 m, and the veranda columns 0.43 m; the column bases are all set on stone blocks, round above and square below. The wooden columns are larger at the top and smaller at the bottom. The Hau Cung is built in the chong diem stacked-eaves style, with wooden balustrades and turned balusters, two tiers and eight roofs covered with thin fish-tail tiles; the upper tier is thieu am and the lower tier is thieu duong, expressing the opposition of yin and yang.

Kim Quan Communal House still preserves many rare sculptural artworks, including a panel of two dragons adoring the moon at the central bay’s curtain door, with clear and decisive carving; the dragon images are very lively, covered in vermilion and gilded, typical of 18th-century carving art. On the massive architectural structure there are elephant statues placed on brackets projecting from the crossbeam in the middle of the columns; between the main columns and the secondary columns are carved and pierced panels with the four sacred animals theme. The dragon, a sacred animal, is dominant with a curved posture, body covered with scales like spear blades, small head, bulging eyes, beard and mane like sparks, in the artistic style of the Le dynasty. In addition, the communal house also has carved panels of the four sacred animals and four precious plants in the early Nguyen dynasty sculpture style of the 19th century. In the rear sanctuary there is a fairly large worship niche decorated with an inlaid curtain door, in which are placed three dragon-headed long bao with three round statues in seated postures with legs propped at right angles on pedestals, having the appearance of military mandarins. Among many notable ancient artifacts are three palanquins for carrying saints and one literary palanquin carved with dragons and phoenixes very elaborately.

Kim Quan Communal House worships three deities, the Chu gods Can Cong, Khiem Cong, and Dam Cong, who taught school and practiced medicine to help the local people. The village festival is held for three major days from the 6th to the 9th day of the first lunar month; villagers all go to the communal house to watch the palanquin procession parading around the village to Quai Sai in Thuy Lai Hamlet, Phu Kim Commune; after the offerings, the palanquins are carried back to the communal house. The festival also has many entertainment activities such as wrestling, swinging, cockfighting, duck catching, and folk singing performances at the communal house gate.