Ly Nhan Communal House

Ly Nhan Communal House and pagoda are located in Ly Nhan Village, Dục Tú Commune. Ly Nhan is an ancient village with a long history, originally named Vữ Village, also called Phi Thôn. This land adjoins Cổ Loa, the ancient capital of An Dương Vương; the land in the middle of the village is shaped like a turtle. The people of Ly Nhan originated from Dục Tú and moved there; they first set up a camp in Vữ field, so it was commonly called Vữ Village. Later it was Phi Thôn. The name Ly Nhan only appeared after the August 1945 Revolution. The communal house worships Đại vương A Lự and Ả Lã Nàng Đê. Legend has it that Đại vương A Lự and Ả Lã Nàng Đê were two sisters whose father was a garrison officer in Cổ Châu, Thanh Oai District. Because he did not submit to the ruling officials, he was killed by Tô Định, and the mother and her two children took refuge in Đường An estate. When they grew up, the two sisters Nàng Đê recruited soldiers to join the Trưng Sisters' uprising and overthrew the rule of the Han dynasty. When Lady Trưng ascended the throne, she granted a fief to Nàng Đê in Đường An (Ly Nhan Village). Nàng Đê sacrificed herself at the Cẩm Khê battle during the resistance against the Eastern Han. Remembering their merits, the people of Ly Nhan honored A Lự and Ả Lã Nàng Đê as the village's tutelary deities.

The village's Hậu thần (secondary deity) is Cao Biền, an official who governed our country during the Tang dynasty's protectorate. The village communal house still has several couplets mentioning this Hậu thần. According to survey documents and villagers' accounts, Cao Biền is worshipped by the villagers to commemorate a visit when he came to make offerings at the shrine and contributed somewhat to the local area.

The old communal house was destroyed, and the villagers moved and rebuilt it together with the shrine (communal house outside, shrine inside). Later, people from surrounding hamlets and estates all established shrines for remote worship. Every year on the 30th day of the first lunar month, the villagers hold a festival with a glutinous rice cake pounding contest.

Based on the edicts and artifacts still preserved at the relic, Ly Nhan Communal House dates from the Later Lê period. According to the elders, the communal house was formerly near the pagoda, and later the people moved it to its current location. Through historical changes and wars, the communal house deteriorated seriously; in 2022-2023, with the attention of authorities at all levels and sectors, the relic was fully restored and the original items of the ancient communal house were reconstructed.

The communal house's nghi môn (gateway) was restored in the four-pillar style, including two large pillars and two small pillars; the two large pillars open into the main gate aligned with the sacred path leading to the front hall, and the two small side gates are arched with overlapping roofs.

Across the wide yard is the front hall (tiền tế), built with 5 bays and 2 lean-tos, with two tiers of overlapping roofs and eight curved corners. The architecture has four rows of column bases; the truss structure uses the upper giá chiêng, the middle stacked beams, and the lower kẻ bẩy. Around it there is no wall, leaving the sturdy column system exposed; the wooden components are joined together to create an airy space.

After the front hall is the main communal house; the great hall is in front and the rear sanctuary is behind. The great hall is built with 5 bays and 2 lean-tos, roofed with local tiles, with four curved corners, surrounded by solid walls; the rear wall of the great hall is left open in the three central bays through to the rear sanctuary, with windows shaped like the character “tho” in the two side bays at the front and at the two gable ends. The three central bays have a wide veranda with a system of folding doors. The two lean-tos of the communal house are similar to other communal houses with curved lean-tos thanks to the system of columns, beams, and braces connected to each other. The rear sanctuary consists of three recently repaired bays; its structure is simple with three trusses of the quá giang type supporting the upper beam, with kẻ truyền on both sides, beams pressing against the side walls, and the two trusses of the innermost bay enclosed with wood to form an altar niche.

Ly Nhan Communal House still preserves many architectural decorations, concentrated on the dragon-carved đầu dư (beam ends) and the cốn panels. The đầu dư, with openwork carving and perforated relief, create vivid and beautiful dragon heads. The communal house's cốn panels feature two traditional themes depicting the four sacred creatures and the four precious plants. These decorations mainly bear the artistic style of the 19th-century Nguyễn dynasty.

The communal house still preserves many precious artifacts, such as a curtain door with stunning carvings of the four sacred creatures and four precious plants; 10 edicts conferring divine titles, mainly from the late Lê period (Cảnh Hưng, Chiêu Thống), the Tây Sơn period, and the Nguyễn period. The contents of the edicts record that kings of various dynasties conferred the title of Upper-rank deity on the two tutelary deities Nàng Đê and Đại vương A Lự; two lacquered and gilded wooden thrones for worshipping the Saint; two statues of the Saints, commonly called Saint Ông and Saint Bà, made of wood in a seated, tranquil posture, with facial features, robe folds, patterns, hats, and boots depicted realistically and vividly; a sword worship stand whose body and scabbard are embossed with many motifs of dragon heads, phoenixes, flowers, leaves, and the four sacred creatures... in the artistic style of the late Lê and early Nguyễn periods.

During the resistance war against the French colonialists, in 1951, the local unit and commune guerrillas won a resounding battle at the village communal house. The French colonialists terrorized and swept through the village; the people fought steadfastly to protect the communal house from being burned by the enemy and ambushed the enemy at Cầu Đùng and Cầu Tây posts. During the resistance war against the Americans, Ly Nhan Communal House was an evacuation warehouse of the General Department of Chemicals serving the resistance cause.