Lower Doan Xa Communal House

1. Type and Ranking: It is a Historical - Architectural - Artistic relic. It was recognized and ranked by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Decision No. 2277/QD-BVHTTDL dated June 28, 2016 as National-level Relic.

2. Worshipped Figure and Historical Value

• Worshipped Figure: The relic worships two local tutelary deities of the highest rank from the Hung Vuong era. Thuong Communal House worships Bao Duc Dai Vuong (Marshal, Senior General, Great Minister); Ha Communal House worships Hue An Dai Vuong (President of the Five Armies, Great General/Commander of the Five Army Routes).

• Divine legend: The two deities were twin brothers, sons of Cao Minh Vuong and Le Thi Dong. Under the Sixth Hung King, they obeyed the king's order to suppress the An invaders. After defeating the enemy, they stationed troops and passed away at Doan Xa. In addition, the locality also worships two goddesses: Queen Mother Vua Ba (First Fairy Palace Princess) and Que Hoa Second Princess.

3. Architectural and Artistic Characteristics

• Scale and Layout: The communal house stands independently on a large plot, faces south, and has a pond in front. The Thuong and Ha communal houses share one entrance and have identical architecture (Dinh-style plan comprising a Front Hall and Rear Sanctuary); the curved roof of Thuong Communal House touches that of Ha Communal House as a symbol of close brotherly bond.

• Thuong Communal House:

  • Main Hall (Front Hall): Comprising 3 bays and 2 side wings, with 4 curved roofs sweeping like boat prows. The structure has 6 rows of lim wood columns; the main columns are 70 cm in diameter; on the column bodies is still carved the date "Chinh Hoa 17th year (1696)" and there are traces of floor boards (typical of Le-era stilt communal houses).

  • Sculptural art: The roof truss is of the type "upper truss with posts and pegs, lower stacked beams and brackets, eave braces". The projecting beam ends are carved with dragon heads and reversed-blade halberds, strongly bearing the Le Trung Hung style. The central bay has bracket panels carved with a dragon nest (mother dragon and young dragons), while the side-bay brackets are carved with the four sacred animals and tiger symbols.

• Ha Communal House:

  • Front Hall and Rear Sanctuary: Comprising a 3-bay Front Hall and a 2-bay Rear Sanctuary connected in a mortar-tail style. Carvings are concentrated in the ceiling brackets of the veranda, with themes of the four sacred animals and four noble plants in the Nguyen style.

4. System of Relics and Antiquities

• The two communal houses preserve a rich system of artifacts, mainly from the 19th century (Nguyen era).

• Thuong Communal House: 02 horizontal lacquered boards ("Duy nhac giang than", "Canh phuc hat huong"), a gilded and lacquered incense table carved with the four sacred animals, trough-shaped couplets, a hand-carried palanquin with elaborate dragon carvings, a worship throne, incense burners, a box of edicts, and a water stand. In particular, there is a system of royal edicts (such as edicts from the 3rd Duy Tan year, 9th Khai Dinh year, and 1st Thanh Thai year).

• Ha Communal House: Worship thrones, wooden and bronze crane statues, offering trays, porcelain incense burners, and a box of edicts.

5. Worship rituals

• Time: The village festival takes place from the 9th to the 11th day of the first lunar month (the main festival is on the 10th). In addition, there are festivals on: the 1st-2nd day of the 5th month (the deity's birthday), the 20th day of the 9th month (the deity's death anniversary), and the 10th day of the 3rd month (the fairy descent).

• Rituals: The festival includes the Moc Duc ceremony (bathing the statues), offering of offerings (glutinous rice, pig's head), reading of eulogies praising the merits of ancestors, and ritual rounds (incense offering, wine offering).

6. Protection work and zoning of the relic site

• According to the minutes dated August 31, 2012 and the map (sheet No. XN5-12-931 in 2012), because the relic is located in an already planned residential area, the competent agencies agreed to delimit only Protection Zone I.

• Total Area of Protection Zone I (Inviolable): 2,094.3 m2.

• Boundaries: To the north: bordering the Day River dike; to the south: bordering the village pond; to the east: bordering the concrete road and residential land; to the west: bordering the dirt road.

• All construction and exploitation activities within the delimited area are strictly prohibited without permission from the competent authority.