TO TIEN COMMUNAL HOUS

To Tien Communal House is located in branch 12/26, To Tien alley, Trung Phung ward, Dong Da district, Hanoi city. In the middle of 19th Century, this site originally belonged to former Tien Nghiem sub-district, Tho Xuong district; later, Tien Nghiem sub-district was changed into Vinh Xuong sub-district, Tho Xuong district, Hoai Duc sub-province, Hanoi province.

According to recollection by the village elders and remaining architectural traces, To Tien communal house started to be built in about middle of 19th Century. By the 60s of the 20th Century, the communal house deteriorated seriously and was repaired by the residents in the alley. In the night of 26th December 1972, the US army sent the B52 airplanes to bomb the Kham Thien quarter, causing the quarter as well as the relics in the To Tien communal house area to be demolished and leveled to the ground. After the country gained peace, the people collected labors and money to re-build the communal house as the place for worshiping the Tutelary God of the village.

To Tien communal house is the place for worshiping “Kham Dien Thien Van” God and Dragon God, who are the gods protecting and guarding the peaceful life of the villagers and were bestowed with the title “The first and most holy”.

To Tien Communal House now has simple architecture in shape of Dinh (丁) character, consisting of the Front hall and the Back Palace, with roofs covered with pseudo-tube tiles. On front side of the house, there are 3 stair steps in marble, inscribed with stylized lotus petals. The frame system is linked in form of “Two side columns, short middle column sitting on traverse beam”. In front of the house, there remained two bronze pillars (vestige of the original communal house). The tops of the pillars have embarked “Nghe” (lion-like supernatural creature) figures heading to each other. Below them are lamp cells embarked with figures of 4 supernatural creatures and 4 seasons; the pillar body surfaces are divided into different equal ornamenting areas, with parallel sentences in Chinese characters; the pillar pedestals have a small narrow sections in the middle. On two sides of the house, there are statures of Vu Dinh and Thien At (2 military generals) guarding the solemn of the Saint house. The front door of the middle compartment is in form of “Railing in upper, plate in lower”. The two side compartments have windows to make it airy and bright with natural outdoor light.

The Communal House maintains some relics such as: incense-table, Throne-Ancestral tablet, Horizontal lacquered board, Parallel sentences, Door paintings in fresco, thurible, large wooden compote, lamp holder, etc. which are in artistic style of 19th – 20th Centuries.

To Tien Communal House is one of the few rare remaining relics which shows the variations of some wards/villages in the area in middle of 19th Century. The House is the evidence of the existence of an old ward/village – the To Tien village in Thang Long – Hanoi land area.