Sen communal house historical and cultural relic 'cries for help'

(Baonghean.vn) - Sen Communal House (Nghia Dong Commune, Tan Ky) was ranked as a provincial-level historical and cultural relic in 2012. Over time, this communal house has become increasingly degraded.

Sen communal house relic has seriously degraded. Photo: Hien Chuong

This is a large communal house and has a rare architectural significance compared to all the communal houses along the Hieu River that have been preserved to this day. Sen Communal House was built in the year of Binh Dan 1926. The villagers themselves cut wood and fired bricks and tiles to build this communal house.

This is also where special village cultural activities often take place during festivals: folk songs, chants, etc.; folk games such as wrestling, human chess, and tom cards...

During the years 1930 - 1931, Sen Communal House was the place where the ceremony to establish the Quy Chau Provincial Committee was held to strongly respond to the Nghe Tinh Soviet revolutionary movement. At Sen Communal House, there were 7 nights of speeches, leaflets were distributed, and red flags with hammers and sickles were hung to call on the working people to rise up and fight against colonialism and feudalism.

In 1945, this was also the place where the masses gathered to protest and seize power throughout the district. Every night, in Sen communal house, under the light of peanut oil lamps, with simple tools, hundreds of leaflets were printed and distributed throughout the district and localities to expose the crimes of the enemy and call on the people to fight.

During the resistance war against the US to save the country, Sen communal house was also the place where hundreds of children were sent off to fight to save the country. The units stationed in the village all chose Sen communal house as a place for ideological, cultural and artistic activities.

The main pillars of the communal house have been eroded by termites. Photo: Hien Chuong

Not only does it have great significance for the local cultural tradition, the Sen communal house relic also records the heroic and resilient revolutionary fighting spirit of the people of Nghe Tinh. However, in recent years, when coming to this red address rich in revolutionary tradition, many people cannot help but feel sad.

After many relocations, due to war, the old tiled roofs were replaced with other tiles. Up to now, both tiled roofs have rotted and sagged. The walls inside and outside the communal house have peeled and cracked. Most of the beams, rafters, beams, and columns have been eaten away by termites, especially at the base of the columns, where termites have eaten away almost everything, making it very dangerous because they could collapse at any time. The horizontal and vertical beams are carved with elaborate dragons and phoenixes, but have also been punctured by termites, making them very unsightly.

Not to mention, valuable artifacts in the communal house such as: sacrificial objects, incense altar, swords, flags, fans, umbrellas, knives, writing implements, palanquins, cranes... and artifacts used to hide documents and feed Party cadres in Nghia Dong in 1931 have also become dilapidated and degraded over time.

Local elders have tried to repair some of the communal house's degraded areas, but to little avail. Photo: Hien Chuong

Mr. Tran Dinh Le, 82 years old this year, has witnessed many changes of this communal house and cannot help but feel sad when mentioning the current state of the communal house. "I and the villagers, especially the elderly, seeing the communal house degraded, feel extremely sorry, but are helpless. We propose a solution that the State and the people join hands to restore and embellish the communal house so that this place will always be a place to educate the traditions of the homeland and preserve it forever" - Mr. Le hopes.

Mr. Vo Duy Hien - Chairman of Nghia Dong Commune People's Committee suggested: "Faced with the deterioration of Sen communal house, we can only try to maintain the current state, have caretakers clean regularly, and use anti-termite chemicals, but that is only temporary. With the current extremely difficult budget conditions of the locality, we really hope to propose that the State consider supporting funding to help the locality have the conditions to restore and embellish this historical and cultural relic."

Charter