Mai Hien Communal House

Mai Hien Communal House was founded around the 17th century during the Later Le dynasty and has undergone many restorations and repairs. Mai Hien Communal House still preserves a stele erected in the 16th year of Tu Duc (1863) recording the repair of the communal house. In the first year of Bao Dai (1926), the rear hall was repaired. After 1954, the communal house had its roof and surrounding walls repaired, and the floor was removed. In 1995, the communal house was repaired in various items and has retained its architecture to this day.

Mai Hien Communal House is situated on a high, spacious, and airy plot of land in the west of the village; the communal house faces southwest. The square pavilion has a square plan, is built in the two-tiered roof style, covered with Vietnamese tiles, and its eight upturned roof corners are curved upward. The rows of columns are all erected in the style “upper tapered – lower flared”, placed on square stone bases, with a brick-paved floor. The decoration on the pavilion architecture is concentrated on the corner brackets, carved in relief and openwork, with themes such as two dragons flanking the sun, “four seasons”, “dragon rolling in water”, “four sacred creatures” (dragon, unicorn, turtle, phoenix), “tiger charm”, “clouds”…

The communal house is structured in the shape of the character “đinh” consisting of the main hall and the rear hall. The main hall has five bays and two lean-tos, with four roofs with upturned corners. The roof is covered with di tiles; the ridge is built in the dinh style; in the middle of the ridge are two dragons flanking a fire sun; on the two gable ends are dragons with twisted tails and mouths holding the ridge. The interior has six rows of wooden columns supporting the roof; the roof trusses are structured in the style of two hidden posts on the tie beam supporting the gable roof, with the upper truss made in the style “upper gable frame, middle connecting beam, lower bracket”, at the two gable ends the lower brackets are made without a supporting structure but still create curved corners. The wooden columns supporting the roof are made in the style “upper tapered – lower flared”, placed on square stone bases, with a brick-paved floor. There are four beam ends in the two central trusses decorated with dragons holding pearls, with dragon hair and whiskers flying backward. The front of the three central bays opens with folding doors; in the two end bays there is no porch, and brick walls are built adjoining the thatched roof. The decoration on the architecture is concentrated on the corner brackets, beams, beam ends, and brackets with themes “dragon nest”, “four sacred creatures”, “tiger charm”, “clouds”…

The rear hall has three bays and one lean-to, built lengthwise toward the rear; one end is mortised into the central bay of the main worship hall, forming the shape of the character “đinh”. The roof is covered with di tiles; the ridge is built in the dinh style; the roof trusses are made in the style “upper stacked beams, lower braces resting on the wall”, the truss next to the gable wall is made in the style “transverse rafter spanning over hidden posts”. The wooden columns supporting the roof are of the style “upper tapered – lower flared”, placed on square stone bases, with a brick-paved floor. The front of the three central bays opens with folding doors. The decoration on the architecture concentrates on relief carving on the beams and brackets shaped like clouds and leaves. The central bay of the rear hall houses the village tutelary god's altar.

The communal house still preserves many valuable artifacts such as gongs, incense bowls, and bronze five-piece sets; worship horses, scrolls, door curtains, eight treasures, seal boxes, incense tables, offering trays, thrones, memorial tablets, horizontal plaques and couplets, and wooden eight-pole palanquins, mainly dating from the 19th century. In particular, the Han-character divine genealogy, the stele erected in the 16th year of Tu Duc (1863), horizontal plaques, and couplets… are valuable historical sources contributing to research and understanding of the historical place names and customs of the local people.

Previously, the village festival was held from the 9th to the 15th day of the third lunar month with all traditional rituals. Today, the village festival is held only on the 14th and 15th days of the third lunar month. The ceremonial part includes rituals to commemorate the god's merits toward the villagers; the festive part includes folk games, artistic performances, and sports competitions.

Mai Hien Communal House relic was ranked as a City-level Historical-Architectural and Artistic Relic under Decision No. 3399/QĐ-UBND-2007 dated July 28, 2007.