TRUNG PHUNG COMMUAL HOUSE

Trung Phung Communal House is located at No. 43/165, Cho Kham Thien Lane, Trung Phung ward, Dong Da district, Hanoi. This is originally the land of two villages of Phung Thanh and Thi Trung. By the middle of the 19th century, these two villages merged together into Trung Phung village, belonging to Tien Nghiem, Tho Xuong district, Hanoi province.

Trung Phung Communal House worships Cao Son Dai Vuong - the god protecting the South of the ancient Thang Long capital. According to legend, Cao Son was originally the son of the Father of the Country Lac Long Quan and the Mother of the Country Au Co, one of 50 children who followed the mother to the mountain, later became a general of Son Tinh (means the God Tan Vien). Because Cao Son had the merit to help Son Tinh defeat Thuy Tinh and the European tribe in the Hung-Thuc war, he was worshiped at the second place in Tan Vien mountain temple (Ba Vi). By the time of Le Trung Hung reign, when King Le Tuong Duc and his army defeated the rebel troops and made great inheritance of King Le Loi, he was helped and alerted by the God and gained success in just 10 days. To express the gratitude to God, in 1509, the King rebuilt the temple to be bigger and more beautiful in Kim Hoa ward near Thang Long at that time (now known as Kim Lien temple).

According to the stories of the elders in the village, Trung Phung communal house was built early with a large and spacious scale. Traces of the old communal house are two copper pillars in front of the current communal house yard. Based on the earliest royal decree, which is still in the relic from the third Tu Duc year (1850) and many horizontal lacquered boards, parallel sentences made in Tu Duc and Thanh Thai dynasties, Trung Phung communal house could be constructed firstly at end of the 18th century, then restored many times in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

During the war and due to the impact of nature, Trung Phung communal house was degraded and damaged. In 2005, according to the wishes of the local authorities and people, the communal house was restored as a place of cultural and spiritual activities for the people in the ward.

Trung Phung Communal House now has a modest architectural scale, from outside, Nghi Mon gate is used as a shared walkway with Trung Phung temple. Nghi Mon is designed with 3 gates. The middle gate is made in form of overlapped matchboxes with 8 storeys and 8 curved corners and roofed with tiles and corner edges are decorated with dragons looking at the sun and arch constructed under. Two sides are two auxiliary gates with the structure similar to main gate. From two auxiliary gates to two sides, there are two pillars with the tops placed with two young lions facing together and the pillar body covered with parallel sentences in Chinese and the pillar bases are narrowed.

The current architecture of Trung Phung communal house consists of two storeys made of durable materials: the first storey is a guest house, the second floor is a place of worship. The frame structure is in the form of “Thượng chồng rường, trung bán chồng rường, tiền kẻ hậu bẩy”. The decoration includes leaves and lines on edges and heads to create the softness of the architecture.

Over time, Trung Phung Communal House still retains many artifacts with historical, cultural and artistic values ​​such as: 09 royal decrees from Nguyen Dynasty and many horizontal lacquered boards, parallel sentences, Thurible, thrones-ancestral tablet, Eight weapons (for ornaments), incense-table, door painting in fresco etc. bearing the art style of 19th – 20th centuries, reflecting the steps of contemporary art history. These artifacts are not only the souls of the relic but they also help researchers learn about the history of sculpture, art, as well as various aspects of contemporary social life.

In addition to the value of architecture, art, the annual festival at Trung Phung communal house is held from the 15th to the 17th of Lunar march as a useful cultural and spiritual event to connect all members in the community that creates cohesion, solidarity and maintains the fine traditions and customs of the locality, directing people to the values ​​of truth - goodness - beauty.

For many years, Trung Phung communal house is a familiar symbol of each local people, the communal house is the center of community activities of the village where educate the generations about the love for the homeland and the country and national pride. The communal house is a sacred and close image so that people can send their thoughts, feelings and desires for a prosperous and happy life. With such values, Trung Phung communal house was ranked as a historical - cultural relic in 2016 by Hanoi People's Committee.