Lai Hoang Communal House

Lai Hoang Communal House is located in Lai Hoang Village, Phu Dong Commune.

The communal house worships the village tutelary deity Uy Dung Dai Vuong - a royal son-in-law who served as an official during the reign of Le Hong Duc (1460-1497) and whose wife was Princess Ky Lan; he made contributions to the homeland and country. To commemorate the achievements of the two deities, local people built a communal house that serves both as a spiritual place of worship and as a cultural activity and meeting center for the village. Every year, people organize a festival on the 10th day of the 3rd lunar month.

Lai Hoang Communal House was built on a large plot of land, with an open, cool view in front, facing southeast. The layout of the communal house is in the shape of the character 'ding', including the front hall and the rear sanctuary. The architecture has gable walls with closed ends and hand-shaped supports; along the ridge is a row of lemon flowers running throughout, in the middle is a relief of two dragons flanking the moon; the trusses are structured in the style of 'gia chieng, ke chuyen tien ke, hau bay'. The two trusses at the gable are 'ke qua giang' and are smoothly planed and fitted, without decoration. The rear sanctuary is connected from the central bay of the front hall, with trusses structured as 'gia chieng, ke chuyen'.

The communal house was restored in the 5th year of Khai Dinh (1920); the overall architecture that remains features carvings with themes of the 'four sacred animals' and 'four seasons'. The most valuable artifacts currently kept here are blue stone artifacts that few places still have, including a pair of elephants and a pair of horses; two stone steles, 'Hau than bi ky' with the Minh Menh era (1821) and 'Ky ky bi ky' (1875), along with many other worship objects.

Lai Hoang Communal House was ranked as a historical and architectural art relic by the Hanoi People's Committee in 2017.