Liep Mai Communal House was ranked at City level under Decision No. 47 QĐ/UB dated January 10, 2003, of the People's Committee of former Ha Tay Province, now the People's Committee of Hanoi City
On a high, open plot in the center of Liep Mai Village, near the inter-communal road, the Liep Mai Village communal house was built facing west with a T-shaped layout; its main structures are the Dai Bai (main hall) and Hau Cung (rear sanctuary), with a yard and communal-house gate in front. The gate of Liep Mai Communal House was formerly built in the nghi mon tru biet style (ceremonial gate with pillars).
On both sides of the main path are two massive pillar structures. On top of the pillars are lantern compartments and stylized four-phoenix-and-flower motifs. Between the two large pillars and two small pillars are two arched openings made in the style of imitation-leaf arches with curved tips. On top of the small pillar structures are pairs of nghe (mythical lion-like creatures) gazing outward, acting as spiritual guardians for pilgrims. This nghi mon gate was damaged by war; at present the locality has only repaired the gate but it is not yet complete, with two main pillar structures and a flower wall enclosing the land of the relic site.
From the gate, through a large yard, one reaches the Dai Bai of the communal house. The floor of the Dai Bai is 16.50 m long and 10 m wide. The platform is raised and bordered with blue stone and Le Trung Hung-era bricks, with steps up and down. The four roofs spread wide and low, covered with small fish-scale tiles. The ridge and eave borders were formerly rows of elegant lemon-flower and star-flower bricks, now replaced by a dinh-shaped ridge. At the two ends of the ridge are two kìm (makara - leaf dragons); in the center of the ridge is a decoration of two dragons flanking the moon. The corner spurs are carved wood, gracefully curved; the tips of the spurs have lost their coiled-dragon decoration.
Inside, the Dai Bai of Liep Mai Communal House is divided into five bays and two small side bays; corresponding to the bays are roof-supporting truss sets made in two slightly different styles on a plan with five rows of columns (four inner rows of wooden or stone columns with round cross-sections, and the veranda row of blue stone columns with square cross-sections). The column bases rest on blue stone plinths made in three tiers. The lowest tier is square, symbolizing earth; the top tier is round, symbolizing heaven; the middle tier is octagonal, symbolizing the eight directions according to the trigrams.
The truss sets of the Dai Bai have the following structure: upper giai chieng and rương nách, lower rương, and veranda/rear bẩy. Connecting the tops of the main columns by a simple overlapping technique (a technique characteristic of the Le period) is a large, sturdy cau dau with a flat back and belly; the cau dau grips two large, thick square cap blocks that taper slightly at the base. Standing on the back of the cau dau are two hidden posts; the tops of the two hidden posts support a pig-belly rương, and the back of the rương supports the upper beam through a boat-shaped cap. In the lower part of the two truss sets, connecting from the body of the main column to the top of the military column are xà nách; above the xà nách are rương nách placed closely together to create a flat surface for carved decoration. The veranda/rear bẩy is mortised into the top of the military column and extends outward to support the lower purlin and roof edge.
Supporting the gable roof is a system of closely fitted stacked rương placed on large, thick horizontal beams. One end of the beam is mortised into the body of the main column, and the other end rests on the military column on the gable side. The lower roof part is a system of rương nách, one end mortised into the body of the hidden post and the other supporting the roof purlin.
The interior of the Dai Bai is divided into unequal bays: the central bay is 4.10 m wide, the side bays are 3.70 m wide, and the side bay is 1.25 m wide. The Hau Cung is connected from the central bay of the Dai Bai and extends backward to form the tail of the T-shaped layout. The Hau Cung is 4.70 m long and 4.13 m wide; inside is an upper sanctuary worshiping Saint Tan Vien Son, made of wood, 1.80 m wide, 4.20 m long, and 1.84 m high. In addition to the Dai Bai, in the right-side bay adjoining the side bay, the space between the main columns is also made into an upper sanctuary 1.95 m high as a place of worship for the three village tutelary deities, the Great Kings Chang Ca, Chang Hai, and Chang Ba. The forbidden chamber worshiping Saint Tan Vien Son and the three tutelary deities is boarded with wood on three sides and has a wooden ceiling above. The front of the upper sanctuary opens with six folding-panel doors; outside there is a decorative frieze with motifs of two dragons flanking the moon, the four sacred creatures, and floral scrolls. Here there are two wooden horizontal plaques bearing four Chinese characters each: 'Thượng đẳng tối linh' and 'Thánh cung vạn tuế'. Inside the upper sanctuary are the dragon thrones and spirit tablets of Saint Tan Vien Son and the dragon thrones worshiping the three village tutelary deities.
The carving art on the architecture of Liep Mai Communal House is concentrated throughout the entire frame of the Dai Bai. Built at a time when village communal-house architecture was developing vigorously (late 17th century), every architectural component of the communal house displays dense decorative motifs. As in many other communal houses, the decorative themes here are mainly images of the leading creature of the 'four sacred creatures': the dragon. One can see scenes such as two dragons flanking the moon, five dragons, a single dragon, the four sacred creatures, and so on. The decorative themes here all have clear subjects, with vivid, optimistic, and cheerful forms. The dignified, imposing dragons are carved in a folk manner, with protruding foreheads, round bulging eyes, straight manes, and large ears like elephant ears, making them gentle and friendly rather than fierce as in court architecture of the Later Le period. In addition, the communal house also has other folk decorative motifs such as spiral clouds, clustered clouds, and stylized leaf scrolls.
Liep Mai Communal House is a very important folk-belief relic of a traditional Vietnamese village. These are two relics that are not very massive, but this architecture brings together the historical, cultural, scientific, and artistic values of a traditional village belief institution. These cultural values have allowed the relic to go beyond the narrow space of the village and integrate into the invaluable cultural heritage treasure of the province.
Architecturally, Liep Mai Communal House is a relic built in the 17th century and repaired in the Nguyen period, so it retains many beauties of traditional artistic architecture of the Le and Nguyen periods. Planned and built in a beautiful location convenient for community cultural activities, the communal house and shrine have for generations been an indispensable place of community activity for every local person. The communal house is also an image that reminds every Liep Mai native who goes far away of a homeland full of dear memories; thus, wherever they go or live, if conditions permit, everyone tries to return to their native homeland to bathe in the sacred space of each festival and to love their homeland even more.
In terms of content, Liep Mai Communal House worships the tutelary deity Saint Tan Vien Son, the Holy Mother who gave birth to him, and three other Great Kings of the Hung dynasty. In the spiritual life of the people, the tutelary deities hold a particularly important position. Our ancestors regarded the deities as the pioneers of the enduring struggle to build and defend the country. According to feudal historians, in the pantheon of the Vietnamese people there are two types of deities always respected and preserved by the monarchical state and the people: first, human deities who rendered service to the country, such as the Trung Sisters, Ly Nam De, Phung Hung, Ngo Quyen, Ly Trien, Do Bi, Ly Phuc Man, and others; second, deities of natural origin formed by the sacred energy of rivers and mountains, often called the noble and numinous spirits, such as Tan Vien Son Thanh, Bach Hac, Long Do, To Lich, and others. These deities together became cultural heroes representing the nation's strength in the early period of building and defending the country.
Promoting the tradition of their ancestors, from the early 1940s the revolutionary movement was established and developed in Liep Mai. Under the leadership of the Viet Minh group, the people of Liep Mai rose up to seize power, took the seal of the village chief, and established a new government. Implementing President Ho Chi Minh's call for nationwide resistance (December 19, 1946): 'Better to sacrifice everything than to lose the country and endure slavery,' with a spirit rich in patriotism, young people of Liep Mai successively enlisted, with 169 person-times. During the resistance war against the Americans, 138 young people enlisted; on average, out of every 100 people, 14 joined the army. Many families had fathers going before and children following after; some families had three to five children joining the army; some families had two generations of martyrs. The communal house was used as a hospital for treating wounded soldiers and also as an evacuation site for the Capital Military Corps and agencies in North Ha Dong. In particular, the transport office of Quoc Oai District sent a working group to operate locally and continuously escort cadres from 1949 to 1954. In 1975, the sacred resistance war of our nation won victory, North and South were reunited as one house, but to this day 40 outstanding sons of the village have never returned forever; 27 other sons are wounded or sick soldiers who left part of their blood, bones, strength, and youth on the battlefields; two mothers were awarded the title 'Heroic Vietnamese Mother'. Those great contributions of the people have been recognized by the Fatherland; the State, Government, and army have awarded many certificates of merit, 258 individual medals and decorations, one collective first-class Resistance War Medal, and other noble titles.
