Lac Nghiep Communal House

Lac Nghiep Communal House is located at Alley 317 Tran Khat Chan Street, Bach Mai Ward, Hanoi City. The communal house worships two village tutelary deities, Linh Lang Dai Vuong and Tao Quan Cong from the Le dynasty, who had merits in establishing hamlets and founding the village. Currently, many documents about the construction time of the communal house do not have accurate information. Based on the line of Chinese characters inscribed on the first beam of the communal house, “Binh Than year, seventh month, erecting pillars and raising the roof beam”, we only know that the communal house had its roof raised in the seventh month of the Binh Than year. The communal house was built facing southwest and includes: Nghi Mon, a courtyard, the main communal house hall comprising the front worship hall and rear sanctuary, the left wing and auxiliary area. The main communal house hall has three compartments – in the “ding” character layout, built in the gable-end with closed gable style. The decorative wood carving panels at Lac Nghiep Communal House strongly reflect the artistic style of the Nguyen dynasty in the 19th century. Currently, the communal house still preserves a number of artifacts such as: a dragon throne, memorial tablets, boxes of royal edicts, a set of eight treasures, 1 stone stele erected on July 1 of the Nham Than year under the seventh reign year of Bao Dai (1922) discussing the worship of ancestors of various generations, 5 rear steles recording the merits of families who sent offerings for posthumous worship and held anniversary sacrifices at the communal house, and 2 horizontal wooden boards lacquered and gilded made in the Nham Dan year, under the reign of Thanh Thai (1902), 2 ceremonial door screens carved in openwork and pierced carving with decorative themes of the four sacred creatures, dragons and clouds, flowers and birds, etc. Every year, on the 24th day of the third lunar month and the 24th day of the ninth lunar month, the Lac Nghiep village festival is held at the communal house. Lac Nghiep Communal House is a cultural and religious work dedicated to worshiping the village tutelary deity, a place for community cultural activities of local residents.