Type 1 ancient house, Mr. Hà Nguyên Huyến's house, in Đường Lâm ancient village, Sơn Tây Ward

Introduction to Mr. Hà Nguyên Huyến's ancient house

I return to my hometown again, set foot on the village road; everything is still here, intact as a rural village—the banyan tree, the water wharf, the village gate... (Mông Phụ Village, Sơn Tây Ward, Hà Nội City). The gate has for generations seen people off and welcomed them home. How many generations have gone down this road and brought glory to their homeland and country... Then returned to the village to live simply like a villager, as many generations here have always done. Homeland is the place of one's birth, the source and root for nurturing the spirit. Returning to the village is returning to the fine traditions on this land!

Returning to the village, as a habit, I like walking alone through the winding, deserted, and strangely quiet alleys. Sometimes, alone, hearing my own footsteps echo through each small alley, I feel as if time has stood still on this land. Still the towering laterite walls run along, still the moss-covered tiled roofs silently cast shadows... The unique laterite walls with their stone eyes stand as witnesses of time... The small alley by Mr. Hà Nguyên Huyến's house is small not because of a lack of land for construction but because of an architectural layout for preventing theft and banditry. There are many such alleys in the village; we have lived peacefully together for hundreds of years. Despite the ups and downs of history, the laterite remains here; over time the stone still sings the deep, heroic song of wisdom and of human sweat and labor that built a village which, even now, is as beautiful as a fairy tale.

On this same small alley, generations of predecessors have set foot since the founding and opening of the village. As years pass, when people speak of them, their stories remain deep in the villagers' memory. From one generation to the next, fathers pass to children, grandfathers to grandchildren... That life has been built up like walls... stone upon stone, stone made into houses, gates, and still resounding a song of creative labor, so that today we still have a unique architecture unlike any other in this country. Entering Mr. Hà Nguyên Huyến's house is what is truly special. This is the 'one-of-a-kind' architecture in this region. The land area is 400m2, including four houses of 300m2 surrounding a courtyard, each house with its own separate function. The main house was built in 1846 in the 'inner worship, outer guest' style (inside for worship, outside for sitting and relaxing). The architecture is both discreet and invitingly open. Returning to the village is returning to a traditional cultural space. The roots are here, in the incense smoke of belief, where the shadows of ancestors, grandparents, and parents still appear... All generations, as if every day, watch over each step of their descendants' growth. I am proud of the generations before us who left these architectural works on this land. Those works are the crystallization of culture, so that today this village has become a living museum of agricultural communities in the northern delta... Our house has seen fourteen generations living here... Along with the ancient village and ancient houses, the craft of making tương has also existed in the village for a very long time. Since the market economy opened up, the craft has had more conditions to develop. The tương-making craft has been tied to us for more than thirty years. Income from making tương contributes significantly to the family's income. The ancients used to say: 'Tương and cà are the family's foundation'... Whenever I come home and see the jars of tương standing shoulder to shoulder in the courtyard, I feel warm inside. A feeling of familiarity, closeness, and flesh-and-blood connection in family life

After many years, together with authorities at all levels, we have preserved, restored, and promoted the value of this unique village. One of the open directions for the village's economic development is tourism. Travel companies have brought visitors to Đường Lâm. Đường Lâm has now become a tourist sightseeing destination. Flowers and fruits grown in the fields and gardens around the village have given visitors interesting and rustic experiences of a rural village.

Writer Hà Nguyên Huyến