Unique ancient houses in Nghe An
(Baonghean) - In the process of building new rural areas, besides many villages that have "turned into cities" with modern, spacious houses, many rural areas of Nghe An still preserve ancient houses that are hundreds of years old.
Depending on the natural conditions, habits, customs, aesthetic concepts... of each region, the architecture and construction of ancient houses have many different features. In general, the ancients paid great attention to feng shui (wind direction, water direction, light direction...) when building houses.
The ancient houses of the Kinh people in Nghe An that are being preserved in the villages are all ground-floor houses, with many pillars, long, low, and roofed with scale tiles. These houses have frames made from good types of wood (lim, jackfruit, doi, etc.) with a structure in the style of "tu truss", "ngu truss" (each truss has 4-5 pillars). Each house is divided into 2 parts: the "outer house" is used for worship and receiving guests, the "inner house" is used for living.
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| An ancient house in Tho village, Phuc Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district. Photo: Huy Thu |
In Yen Thanh rice district, Phuc Thanh commune is one of the localities that still preserves the most ancient houses. In the space of the ancient Tho village, there are currently more than a dozen ancient houses with beautiful gardens, ranging from one hundred to several hundred years old. These are wooden houses with 3 to 6 rooms, with no concept of even or odd rooms. Inside these houses, the wooden parts are often made in the style of "ke xuong, cot thu, ha thach", many parts such as rafters, door panels... are elaborately and beautifully carved with grass, flowers and leaves.
Some houses have tiled roofs with double-layered gables, which look quite impressive. The special thing about the old houses here is that they do not have cupboards and ceilings like in flooded rural areas. Many houses also hang elaborately woven bamboo blinds to block the sun and rain, which can be raised or lowered as desired. Among the old houses in Tho village, the houses of Nguyen Viet Quynh, Pham Gia Ngon, and Nguyen Viet Linh are the most typical.
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| Ancient houses in Nghe An villages are often divided into two parts: the "outer house" is used for worship and receiving guests, the "inner house" is used for daily activities. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| Patterns on the lines of the 6-room house of Mr. Nguyen Viet Linh in Tho village, Phuc Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district. Photo: Huy Thu |
In flood-prone rural areas such as Cu Thon, Giang Thuy, Hung Loi commune (Hung Nguyen) or Luong Dien, Ke Sap, Thanh Xuan commune (Thanh Chuong), the ancient houses have relatively similar architecture. Unlike in Yen Thanh, the ancient houses here only have an odd number of rooms (3, 5, 7), with cupboards - ceilings to store belongings, and to avoid floods. The ancient houses in Nhut are more unique, often built in the style of "ke xang trong ban" (raising the roof with a system of rafters), "ha chap dau, ha quai giang" (attaching to the columns, with mortise and tenon joints). The roof is wide, covered with yin-yang tiles or single tiles. In the front, there are many types of doors, arranged on different types of thresholds: large door - threshold 1, side door - threshold 3 (dia thu, ban am, ngoa), window - threshold 5.
Some houses have beams, bamboo cladding, and many sliding doors at the back for ventilation and escape. Currently in Thanh Xuan, Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa's house is the most beautiful, Mr. Nguyen Canh The's house is the most original, and the longest house (7 rooms) belongs to Mr. Nguyen Van Lieu.
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| The ancient houses in Thanh Xuan commune, Thanh Chuong district, usually have many doors (main door, side door, windows) in the front opening on different thresholds. Photo: Huy Thu |
Currently, some ancient houses in the countryside have been restored and embellished, but still retain the original wooden structure and style. Mr. Nguyen Viet Quynh's family in Nam Chinh hamlet, Phuc Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) has invested a lot of money to restore and embellish an ancient house system including a house, kitchen, guest house, "T" shaped structure with full garden, ornamental plants, like a museum. Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa's family in Xuan Nam hamlet, Thanh Xuan commune (Thanh Chuong) has also invested hundreds of millions of VND to restore a 5-room house that has been through 7 generations, with the desire to "preserve the house of our ancestors as a souvenir for a long time".
In recent years, "playboys" have been constantly hunting for and buying old houses in the countryside, but almost no one of the owners of these houses wants to sell, because for them "preserving old houses is also the responsibility of descendants towards their fathers and ancestors".
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| Luong Dien village, Thanh Xuan commune is the rural area that still preserves the most ancient houses in Thanh Chuong district. Houses here often have separate rooms, ceilings and cupboards to avoid floods. Photo: Huy Thu |
Ancient houses have been associated with the countryside for generations. Inside these houses, some families still preserve almost intact the worshiping objects and familiar household items, such as bamboo trays, tables, beds, betel boxes, hat racks, etc. What is more precious is that after hundreds of years of existence, ancient houses continue to be the shelters and homes for families.
Many generations have been born, raised and matured in these beloved old houses. Whether they go to the South or the North, every time Tet comes, when the apricot and peach blossoms are in full bloom, they return to gather and be warm under the old roof, together making banh chung, offering incense to the ancestral altar, sharing love and cherishing the family's filial piety values.
