Located nearly 50 km away from the centre of Ha Noi, Duong Lam village is maintaining its generic features of a Vietnamese village with banian tree, well, communal house’s courtyard and laterite-made hundred year aged houses.
Mong Phu village gate- One of the old gates being preserved
Duong Lam ancient village, Duong Lam commune (son Tay) has been recognized as national relic since 2005, comprising of 5 villages of Mong Phu, Dong Sang, Cam Thinh, Doai Giap, Cam Lam. At present, the village possesses up to 965 original houses. The most long lasting one is at the age of 400 years, still keeping a worship text written on a board in Han scripts of Chinese ink. The details shaping “the soul” of the ancient house constitutes laterite-made wall, gate, sloping brick paved entrance, high threshhold and separate ancestral worship space. The house gate is made in the shape of basket handle of laterite materials, which is soft curved and firm. The mandarin’s threshhold is often designed with tiger-faced circle, above it is covered with dragon, kylin, turtle and phoenix or two dragons are waiting for the moon. Every house is seen as a family heirloom, history, culture and as well as a sacred place of worship of each family.
It not only has old houses, Duong Lam village also has a complex of treasure values, namely: Village gate of Mong Phu built in the dynasty of King Le Than Tong (1553). The gate is vertically erected in the form that above is house and under is gate, the brick-covered roof top is supported with the posts and the inside is with wooden frame, ridge-poles and rafters. Mong Phu is an old temple bearing the hallmark of Viet-Muong architectural style (wooden-laid temple floor), an uniqueness of architectural arts that is kept on the carving panels. Mia pagoda (alias Sung Nghiem) was built during Tran Dynasty on the laterite hill in the middle of Dong Sang village. It is an ancient pagoda, in which a great number of Buddhist statues and various worshipping objects are still remaining and well conserved (287 Buddhist statues and valuable relics). Mia pagoda together with Mia princess temple, Mia wharf, Mia market, Dong Sang village’s gate,.. are the works associated with the name and enormous exploits of Ms Ngoc Dong (Ngoc Dao) – a daughter born in this homeland and an imperial concubine Thanh Do Vuong Trinh Trang. On pagoda (so-called On Hoa pagoda) used to play an important role in the cultural folk life of Mong Phu people. Before wars, on every 3rd March of the lunar year, on the small piece of couryard in front of the pagoda, villagers often gathered here to pay worships to the spirits of Dong region in the hope of winning their support and favour for bumper crops. After their offerings rite, the village held a wrestling and kite-flying competitions. On pagoda’s westling competition had a huge influence on all over the Doai area and attracted many wrestlers to come to the site for competition. Additionally, there are a lot more other treasured works in this area to be named as Phung Hung communal house, Ngo Quyen temple and mausoleum, house of worship of families, vending stalls, sentry house, ancient well,..
Duong Lam ancient well
Duong Lam old village is a converging place of salient charateristics of the Northern delta’s culture, thus having attracted around 20.000 visitors to the area each year. Given great opportunities for tourism development, most recently breaches of construction rules have been arising. A number of households building houses without the relevant agency’ permission and in violation of the construction planning have damaged the charms of the ancient village. Besides, along the entrances of Mong Phu village, lots of households while buiding their houses have violated the regulations on management, conservation and refurbishment of the ancient village such as intentionally replacing the encirlement laterite walls with new brick ones, breaking through walls to open threshholds outward the common ways, erecting two-storey fortified building disregard of the village masterplan or installing inox-made water tank on the high position. According to the report by the Relic Management Board of Duong Lam Ancient Village, in 2014 within the area of Duong Lam ancient village, out of 48 households having houses and auxiliary facilities built, all of them had yet to obtain permissions. In this regard, Mr. Phan Van Hoa, Vice chairman of Duong Lam Communal People’s Committee pointed out: It is due to the too limited residential areas in Duong Lam and its population is going up, even many households are in a state of having 3 to 4 generations to live together in one house. Houses are being downgraded and quite a few households are in need of building fixed houses to live. In the meantime, the design for construction of a model house in Duong Lam has not been completed; an investment project of building a substituted residential complex has not been formulated either; conditions and mechanisms in favour of the investment in embellishment, conservation and enhancement of the ancient village’s values have net been in place, that is one of the reasons impeding the issuing process of construction permission.
In implementing the approved masterplan for conservation, renovation and promotion of Duong Lam ancient village’s values, Son Tay town has launched a propaganda and mobilised its people to strictly observe the relevant regulations on the protection of the ancient village as well as the law on cultural heritages; at the same time, strengthen the managment of construction and civil projects and rehabilitate reclics of the ancient village; speed up the progress of the designed model house of the ancient village; repair decayed relics and ameliorate the project planning for the relaxation of population density in the ancient village; boost the switch of economic structure from agriculture to tourism service bases; develop souvenir products in service of visitors. With active response and participation by the administration and related unions, it is convinced that all constraints in the management of construction in the ancient village will soon be resolved, paving the way for Duong Lam to bring into play its tourism cutting edges of the land of Doai region.
Quoc Hai