Trung Thanh Stone Bridge - unique architectural work
(Baonghean) -Trung Thanh Stone Bridge is an architectural work from the 19th century built by the people of Trung Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district - Nghe An to serve people in the southern communes of the district.
In the past, Trung Thanh commune had Phuc Thanh village, famous for two temples: Phuc Thanh temple worshiping Mr. Nguyen Duy Thien, the god of opening the farm; and the cave temple worshiping Lady Giang. In addition, the village also had Phuc communal house, Phuc pagoda, which were quite majestic and beautiful, and especially the stone bridge across Bau Roc. This lake was very wide, but over time, the river water flowed less, and the constant sun and rain made Bau Roc dry and narrow. Up to now, the lake is only 2 km long and 40 m wide.
Trung Thanh stone bridge, Trung Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district.
The stone bridge across Bau Roc serves the travel needs of the people of the old Quan Thanh commune and neighboring areas. In the 19th century, Mr. Nguyen Van Ba, originally from Ha Tinh, came to settle in the locality and voluntarily spent money, effort and mobilized the people to build the bridge. He submitted a petition to the Yen Thanh district magistrate asking for permission to build the bridge. After the magistrate agreed, he mobilized the people of Thanh Hoa and Nghe An, then hired Thanh workers and Trung Phuong workers (Dien Minh, Dien Chau) to divide into two groups to work from the two ends to the middle. He himself voluntarily offered the village 3 buffaloes and 3 cows; built a temple to worship Thanh Quan for charity.
Next to the Roc bridge, he had a stone stele carved. This stele is located on the north side of the stone bridge, with four sides carved with Chinese characters, honoring those who donated money to build the bridge. The stele is 0.8m high and 0.6m wide, but currently the Chinese characters are peeled off and cannot be read.
After more than 100 years, floods, rising water levels and historical events caused the stone bridge to deteriorate. Mr. Tran Ba Tuong and Mr. Nguyen Trong Lien were appointed by the people of Trung Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district to repair it in 1988.
After being repaired, the stone bridge is 40m long, 1.2m wide, 3.5m high, has 19 spans with 39 elaborately assembled stone slabs. Stones for the bridge repair were quarried from many places in Vinh Tuy, Thanh Hoa, Co, and Vu Ky.
Trung Thanh Stone Bridge is a beautiful work of art in the lowland area of Yen Thanh district. If you look closely, you will see that each stone slab has a different size, with a 0.8m or 0.9m wide slab, joined together with a sturdy clamp. On each span of the bridge, although there are no patterns on the surface, the ancient stone workers carved parallel lines running along the stone slabs. The foot of the bridge is 3.5m long, and on each crossbeam supporting the bridge, the ancients carved solid stone pins. The entire bridge has a moderate curve. The middle of the bridge is 0.3m higher than the two ends, forming an arc-shaped bridge. On the two abutments on the south and north sides, the villagers added 4 stone slabs on each side along with sand and gravel to make it sturdy. In recent years, with the efforts of the commune government, the people have poured concrete to make the two ends of the bridge sturdy.
Trung Thanh Stone Bridge is a unique architectural work built by philanthropists in the district, the province and other provinces, along with local people, and is the pride of Yen Thanh homeland.
Phan Xuan Thanh