Liep Mai Communal House was ranked at city level under Decision No. 47/QD-UB dated January 10, 2023, by the People's Committee of Ha Tay Province (former), now the People's Committee of Hanoi City
The shrine is oriented to the south (10 degrees toward the west). This is an orientation often noted in ancient relics, because first it is cool in summer and avoids cold winds in winter. Folk often say “Take a gentle wife, build a south-facing house.” The south also carries a yang nature and is associated with happiness. Under Chinese cultural influence, “The sage faces south to hear the world” (The sage sits facing south to listen to the world's petitions), so it is the orientation of emperors, and later the orientation of deities when they become spiritual kings of the people.
From the outside, the shrine has a single-block layout with a front-blade and rear-bolster style, with curved blade corners at the front creating elegance for the ancient architecture. The roof ridge and roof edges are simply decorated; at the two ends of the roof ridge are two makaras (leaf dragons), and at the bends of the roof edges are xo figures made of lime mortar and decorated with porcelain and ceramic, looking majestic yet gentle and close. The blade tips at the roof corners are shaped into lively and graceful dragons.
Inside, the shrine is divided into 3 bays, of which the middle bay is 1.65 m wide, the outer bay is 1.65 m wide, and the inner bay is 1.70 m wide. Corresponding to the bays are roof-supporting truss sets made in two styles: the truss set of the gable bay is made in a simple keo ke style, while the remaining truss sets are of the type upper chong ruong and lower ke chuyen. In the outer bay truss set, a system of folding doors is opened in the middle bay and panel doors in the two side bays for convenience in religious activities.
Connecting the two ends of the main columns by a mortise cut into the column head is a cau dau beam with a square cross-section, slightly tapered at both ends. The cau dau supports two straight ruong placed closely on top of each other; the topmost ruong supports the thuong luong through a boat-shaped dau. The ke chuyen mortises through the body of the main columns below the cau dau and connects to the head of the military column, combining with the lower side beam to support the purlin through the van dong. The xa dai has both ends resting on the wall and mortising through the heads of the main columns, adding solidity to the truss sets.
In the second bay toward the inside, there is a simple wooden altar on which is placed the hau banh worshiping Lady Dinh Thi Den - the mother of Saint Tan Vien Son - and some other ritual objects such as a scripture stand, candle holders, incense bowls, and decorative vases...
Liep Mai Shrine is a shrine built long ago; in the minds of each local person, the shrine is a sacred relic and very few people are allowed to enter the inner sanctuary, so the decoration on the shrine's wooden architecture is simple, with beams, ke, and ruong mainly planed and smoothed with bamboo shoot bark patterns, and in some places with decorative dragon motifs, creating openness and durability for the wooden architecture. A notable point is that the shrine was built on a large hill, formerly a lim forest. Today, with ancient lim and banyan trees casting shade over the shrine area, they give the area a sacred and mysterious appearance. The shrine, appearing and disappearing in the canopy of trees and leaves, has blended into nature and is closely attached to nature (similar to Den Va - Dong Cung worshiping Tan Vien Son Thanh in Son Tay), and is one of the not many relics that still preserve the traditional environmental landscape in Ha Tay.
In summary: Liep Mai Communal House - Shrine was built by the villagers long ago to worship the tutelary deities of their village. Over the time of their existence, the relics have remained intact
Liep Mai Shrine is a very important folk belief relic of a traditional Vietnamese village. These are two relics that are not very large, but this architecture has gathered enough historical, cultural, scientific, and artistic values of a traditional village belief institution. These cultural values have enabled the relic to go beyond the narrow space of the village and integrate into the invaluable cultural heritage treasure of the province.
In terms of architecture, Liep Mai Shrine is a relic built in the 17th century and repaired in the Nguyen era, so it still preserves many beautiful features of traditional artistic architecture of the Le and Nguyen dynasties. Planned and built in a beautiful location, convenient for community cultural activities, the communal house and shrine for generations have been indispensable community activity places for each local person. The shrine is also an image that reminds every Liep Mai native far from home of a homeland full of dear memories, and thus wherever they go, if conditions permit, everyone tries to return to their homeland to bathe in the sacred space of each festival and to love their homeland even more.
In terms of content, Liep Mai Shrine worships the tutelary deity Duc Thanh Tan Vien Son, the Holy Mother who gave birth to Him, and three other Great Kings of the Hung dynasty. In the spiritual life of the people, the tutelary deities have a particularly important position. Our ancestors regarded the gods as the pioneers of the enduring struggle to build and defend the country. According to the conception of feudal historians, in the pantheon of the Vietnamese people there are two types of gods always admired and preserved by the monarchical state and the people: first, human gods who rendered service to the country, such as Hai Ba Trung, Ly Nam De, Phung Hung, Ngo Quyen, Ly Trien, Do Bi, Ly Phuc Man... The second type is gods of natural origin formed by the sacred spirit of rivers and mountains, often called “Hao khi anh linh” (glorious heroic spirit), such as Tan Vien Son Thanh, Bach Hac, Long Do, To Lich... These gods combine into cultural heroes typical of the nation's strength in the early days of building and defending the country.
Promoting the tradition of their ancestors, right from the 1940s the revolutionary movement was founded and developed in Liep Mai. Under the leadership of the Viet Minh group, the people of Liep Mai rose up to seize power, confiscated the seal of the village chief, and established a new government. Implementing President Ho Chi Minh's call for national resistance (December 19, 1946): “We would rather sacrifice everything than lose the country and not be enslaved.” With a spirit rich in patriotism, Liep Mai youth successively enlisted, with 169 turns of people. In the resistance war against the United States, 138 turns of young people enlisted; on average, for every 100 people, 14 joined the army. Many families had fathers going before and children following after; some families had 3 to 5 children join the army; some families had two generations who were martyrs.
