Mach Trang Communal House

Mach Trang was one of the eight fortresses of the Co Loa citadel, guarded by General Ngo Nam Tu. In the past, Mach Trang had four hamlets: Pagoda Hamlet, Tile Hamlet, Central Hamlet, and Tri Hamlet. This is a village with many historical and cultural relics. Nghe Mach Trang, also called Ba Cha Communal House, was the common communal house of three villages: Mach Trang, Van Thuong, and Ngoai Sat. Previously, on the annual festival day of the sixth day of the first lunar month, after the three villages came to perform ceremonies at Thuong Temple, they gathered here for a ceremony, and then the three villages divided and returned to their own villages. The Ba Cha Communal House was later destroyed, and today each village has its own communal house. The Mach Trang Communal House and Pagoda belong to Mach Trang Village, one of the 15 villages and hamlets of Co Loa Commune. According to legend, during the period when An Duong Vuong built the Co Loa citadel and conducted the resistance war against the invading army of Trieu Da, Mach Trang was the area where the Au Lac army stored provisions. Perhaps for this reason it was also called Mach Duong; later, in the reign of Ngo Quyen, a school was opened in this village, hence the name Mach Trang.

Mach Trang is one of the 'Eight Communes of Loa Thanh', located just south outside the Co Loa citadel, on a high, dry area beside the Hoang Giang River. Mach Trang, together with seven other villages in this area (called the Eight Communes), participated in the procession of the eight palanquins to offer ceremonies at Thuong Temple on the sixth day of the first lunar month each year, after which they returned to the village to continue the festival. The people here have the custom of making stir-fried rice vermicelli with celery on the festival day to eat 'seu' offerings to the Lady, so it is also called the Lady's vermicelli. The stir-fried rice vermicelli with celery of the Co Loa area, especially the vermicelli of Mach Trang Village, has characteristics that cannot be confused with any other place. This is a dish loved by many people during Tet.

Mach Trang Communal House worships King Thuc An Duong Vuong. The communal house was built at the very entrance of the village, on an area of about 3,000 m2 at the western end of Mach Trang Village. In front of the communal house is a large pond, beside which is Ngoc Well.

Mach Trang Communal House dates from about the late 18th century and underwent major restoration in 2001. The communal house is quite large and beautiful; from the village road into the communal house one must pass through a wide four-pillar ceremonial gate and a yard of about 2,000 m2 paved with Bat Trang bricks. Beyond the front ceremonial hall is the main communal house, 2 m apart. In the front yard area, slightly west of the front ceremonial hall, is a shrine to Princess My Chau. The entire area is enclosed by walls except for the ceremonial gate.

The roof of the communal house is large, covered with thick local tiles, with four curved corner tips. The ridge and eave lines on the roof are decorated with lemon-flower motifs, and the two ends of the roof ridge are decorated with kim heads. The main communal house is built on a foundation 50 cm above the yard, with a layout in the shape of the character 'dinh'. The front has a system of paneled folding doors running across the three central bays, and the steps up and down are paved with blue stone slabs. The side bays and remaining gable ends are walled in and joined to the rear wall. The wooden architecture of the communal house is carved and decorated, concentrated mainly in the two roof trusses of the central bay. The beam ends are carved with dragon heads in soft but firm lines in openwork style; on the stacked beams are decorated images of the 'four sacred creatures': dragons sporting in clouds, phoenixes holding letters, dancing unicorns, and turtles carrying flowers, interwoven with pine, chrysanthemum, bamboo, and plum representing the four seasons. The central bay of the communal house is the widest; in addition to the carvings on the truss, the ceiling is also boarded with panels of dark red lacquer and gilding decorated with the four sacred creatures, the four seasons, and a raised sun in the very center.

The rear sanctuary consists of two bays connected to the main communal house and houses the altar shrine of King An Duong Vuong; the shrine floor is 1 m high, surrounded by wooden walls, with a throne and a memorial tablet reading 'Thuc An Duong Vuong Hoang De' inside. As for interior decoration, in the central bay above is a horizontal plaque inscribed with four characters 'Han Van Co Anh Linh'; inside the rear sanctuary there are two horizontal plaques inscribed 'Uc Nien Huong' and 'Thanh Cung Van Tue'.

There are some couplets:

Thuc of the West descended to earth; mountains meet the ancient; at Nam Giao the saint is manifested; the sacred temple is new.

Thuc of the West descended to earth over the old land; at Nam Giao the saint is manifested; this temple stands today.

One side of Phong Khe, the royal citadel curves; the Hung prowess remains today; Au Lac for a thousand years upholds the lineage; the ancestral spirit opens from the ancient beginning.

One side of Phong Khe, the royal citadel of Hung; as before today; a thousand years Au Lac supports the nation's destiny; the spirit clearly shows the ancient will.

Mach Trang Communal House has a large and beautiful architecture, preserves carved panels of high artistic value and a number of rare relics with values dating from the 18th to 19th centuries. Among them, the most notable are 9 royal edicts of the Nguyen kings conferring the title of deity on An Duong Vuong in the years: the first year of Gia Long (1802), the second year of Minh Mang (1821), the second year of Thieu Tri (two edicts on the 7th day of the 8th month and the 9th day of the 9th month), the third and thirty-third years of Tu Duc (1850, 1880), the second year of Dong Khanh (1887), the third year of Duy Tan (1909), and the latest edict dated the ninth year of Khai Dinh (1924). Some precious relics include: a genealogical record of the deity, a pair of worship cranes standing on turtle backs, a set of bronze tripods, two phu viet blades in the bat buu set, a bronze bell, a bronze lamp, a worship throne, the memorial tablet of Thuc An Duong Vuong, a worship platform with kneeling-leg and fish-back style, an eight-palanquin, memorial tablets, and an altar table; all are lacquered in red and gilded and carved and inlaid in the artistic style of the 18th to 19th centuries with decorative themes of the four sacred creatures and four seasons. Those objects are truly perfect works of art.

The Mach Trang Communal House relic was ranked as a National Historical and Cultural Relic in 1962, and in 2012 it was ranked as a Special National Historical and Cultural Relic.