To Khe Communal House

To Khe Communal House is located in To Khe Village, Phu Thi Commune, Gia Lam District, now part of Thuan An Commune, Hanoi City.

The communal house worships the two village tutelary deities, Tran Van Xuong Dai Vuong and Tran Van Khuc Dai Vuong, two talented generals of Phu Dong Thien Vuong.

The To Khe deity record states:… At that time, the sixth Hung King ruled our country. The Yin invaders encroached upon the borders, advanced into Vu Ninh land, and harmed the people. Hung King issued a decree throughout the realm to recruit virtuous people to help the country and save the people from danger. At that time, in Phu Dong Commune, a savior saint suddenly appeared and asked Hung King to grant him an iron-cast horse, a pair of divine swords, and ten thousand troops to set out to defeat the Yin invaders. Upon hearing the news, the two brothers of the Tran family immediately set out to join the army. Phu Dong Thien Vuong was very pleased and entrusted them with the important task of commanding the great army, then appointed them as vanguard to charge to the front and defeat the enemy, achieving many glorious victories. When the country was cleared of the Yin invaders, the court conferred on the two men the titles Tran Van Xuong Dai Vuong and Tran Van Khuc Dai Vuong. After they passed away, they were posthumously honored as tutelary deities of their native village, and a temple was built for worship. Every year on the eighth and ninth days of the ninth lunar month, the anniversary of their death, the people, grateful for their profound merits, usually hold solemn ceremonies at the village communal house.

To Khe Communal House has a layout in the shape of the character “Nhi” and faces west. The most notable feature of the relic is the unique style of dragon depiction. Each dragon here has four layers of hair, protruding eyes, a bumpy forehead, horns on its head, fish-scale-like decorations on its forehead and body, and a softly curving body… These are highly valuable sculptures of 19th-century Nguyen dynasty fine arts. To Khe Communal House still preserves a collection of lacquered and gilded wooden artifacts of high artistic value, such as four corbels, a set of eight-bearer palanquin, a set of eight treasures, and ceremonial weapons… a rare source of materials that needs to be preserved.

To Khe Communal House was classified as an Artistic Relic by decision of the Ministry of Culture and Information on January 16, 1995.