Located near the legendary Red River, the ancient village of Dong Ngac in Tu Liem District, Hanoi City has for many years preserved age-old historical relics and typical cultural features.

The village has been famous for its large-scale communal house with some ancient architectural works dating back 500 years. The interior of the communal house displays a set of ancient paintings from the Le Dynasty (1427 – 1788) which depict the bumper harvests and peaceful, prosperous life of people. Also, there are eight paintings praising the vocations of fishery, forestry, fabric weaving, husbandry, teaching, farming, handicraft and trading. Each painting is enclosed with a tang prosody poet.

The communal house, known as an ancient temple in the 17^th century, was built to the north of the village near the dyke of the Red River. In 1635, it was restored and expanded to worship three spirits, including Thien Than (Doc Cuoc who was invited to the communal house by Phan Phu Tien from Sam Son, Thanh Hoa), Dia Than (the tutelary god who helped the villagers prevent disasters, fight against drought and performed some miracles) and Nhan Than (Le Khoi, a nephew of King Le Thai To, who was a famous general and was awarded the title “Senior lieutenant-general”. The communal house also pays homage to Pham Tho Ly, who gave land to build the communal house in 1635, and Doctor Pham Quang Dung who restored the communal house in 1718.

Over the years the Village has preserved intact its typical architectural works, ancient houses of 100 years old with the architectural style of the northern delta in Vietnam or the French style, brick-inclined roads, Tu Khanh Pagoda built in the 18^th-19^th century and dozens of ancestral worshipping houses of the families of Pham, Phan, Nguyen, Hoang, etc.nbsp; Among them, the worshipping house of Do family where Do The Giai, a senior official under the Le-Trinh Dynasty (the 17^th-18^th century) is worshipped, preserves many valuable relics.

The Village is the native land of Le Duc Mao (1462-1529), a scholar who composed nine poems which were usually read during the rite of giving money and silk to geishas. These poems are considered the first script document of Ca tru (chamber music) in the Han Nom heritage treasure and the earliest document about the poetry styles of six-eight words and seven-seven-six-eight words in the history of Vietnamese literature.

Photos: Hoang Giap

nbsp;