Situated to the west of Hanoi (Hoai Duc district), Là communal house worships 3 Tutelary gods (King Minh Lang, King An Lang, King Xạ Thần) – those who dedicated themselves to the country.
It was built by villagers in La Phu, also known as the communal house of La Phù village. Displaying representative artistic architecture of the Mac dynasty, some of its bas-reliefs, wood/rock carving details were from XVI. Later, it was reconditioned in the Nguyen dynasty, as so, there are many details that show the integration with the Nguyen dynasty arty style.
Today, Là communal house retains the sacred genealogy, 38 ordained ordinations with one earliest in 1705 (during King Le Vinh Thinh reign); an 8-men-carried palanquin with carvings of dragon’s head with jade in its mouth (art of Le dynasty), 5 wooden planks (used for separate different rooms/compartments) with wood-carving dragons sitting on horses, a pair of tortoise rock statues from the Le dynasty, 3 sets of couplet, 3 carved thrones with dragon’s heads in the Nguyen dynasty.
People said it used to have a bridge crossing Nhue river (following a distinctive concept of House above – bridge below), entering the house by going through this bridge. Later on, this bridge (cầu Là) was seriously degraded, apparently, as to enlarge the size of courtyard, the bridge was removed.
Photo
Trieu Chien
Location
La Phu village, Hoai Duc district
Hanoi, Vietnam
