(Baonghean.vn) - Dinh Chu carpentry village (Thanh Tuong commune, Thanh Chuong) has been famous for generations for its exquisite and exquisite wooden art products, especially churches built in ancient architectural style...
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| Dinh Chu carpentry village has a tradition of hundreds of years, the village was recognized as a craft village since 2008. Currently, Dinh Chu village has 50/115 households still maintaining the traditional profession, with nearly 100 workers. |
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| The unique feature of the carpentry profession in Dinh Chu is the traditional craft of making wooden churches with unique ancient architecture. According to the experience of long-time workers here, the types of wood chosen to build churches are often precious woods: jackfruit, doi, lim… the older the wood, the stronger, more durable, and the more beautiful the color. |
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| Wooden church constructions are different from other civil and fine art wooden products in that they have sharp, unique patterns, are carved delicately, requiring the ingenuity and talent of the craftsman. The details carved on the church's keel are usually the four sacred animals: Dragon, Unicorn, Turtle, Phoenix or the four noble animals: Pine, Chrysanthemum, Bamboo, Apricot. The ancient carvings must always be in the right proportion, beautiful and express their profound symbolic meaning. |
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| The craftsmen are very meticulous and careful in every step from planing, chiseling, carving… to create the parts of this spiritually significant construction. Therefore, building a church often takes more time and effort than other constructions; from several months to half a year to complete. |
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| Carpentry is not only for men, there are some stages that require meticulousness, dexterity and are not too hard, so the women of the craft village will take on the task. |
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| Many production facility owners in Dinh Chu village have invested in new modern machinery to meet the increasingly diverse needs of customers. |
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| Although the work is hard, the church building profession in Dinh Chu brings a good income to the local people. Each skilled worker is paid quite well, on average 4-5 million VND/month. |
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| Le Cong Son's family (village 5) has been working as a carpenter for generations in Dinh Chu. He said that there were months when he had to build 2-3 churches, so he had to hire more workers from famous carpentry villages in Hai Duong and Bac Ninh to help. Some steps, such as painting the wood, he had to send to Dong Ky village (Bac Ninh) for further processing. |
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| Building a wooden church requires the craftsman to pay attention to every little detail, and carving the door alone on this set of doors takes months. Therefore, each craft household in Dinh Chu village usually undertakes 5-6 church projects, so that each product can be carefully crafted; preserving the village's brand. |
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| Although each wooden church project is quite expensive, from several hundred to 500 - 600 million, but because of its ancient design, elaborate and unique carvings, it still attracts many customers from all over the country to Dinh Chu craft village. |
Duc Anh - Dinh Nguyet
