Nguyen Sy Sach Martyr Church is seriously degraded.
The National Historical Relic of Martyr Nguyen Sy Sach Church in Thanh Luong Commune (Thanh Chuong) has seriously degraded and needs timely restoration and repair.
The Nguyen Sy Sach Martyr Church in Hamlet 2, Thanh Luong Commune was built by Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen Sy Gian in 1902. It has a 3-room, 2-wing architecture in the style of a thatched house. From the beginning of the 20th century to the resistance years, many generations of Mr. Gian's descendants lived in this house.
In 1942, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hong - wife of martyr Nguyen Sy Sach had the house renovated, roofed with yin-yang tiles, built walls around the house, and built a wooden door in front of the house... In 2006, the house was restored and renovated into the Nguyen Sy Sach Martyr Church.
On this occasion, the house was moved to the back, close to the garden, creating a symmetrical space for two buildings: the Nguyen Sy Sach Martyr Church and the Nguyen Si family church.
In front of the church yard, there is a bust of the martyr. Inside the church, there is an altar to martyr Nguyen Sy Sach, a stele, artifacts and pictures of his family, hometown… associated with the name and revolutionary career of the martyr.
According to the stele erected in front of the relic, in this house, in 1905, martyr Nguyen Sy Sach was born and grew up in the love and teachings of Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen Sy Gian.
After years of studying hard, passing exams, and growing up, in 1925, the wedding ceremony between the martyr and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hong (from Thanh Lam commune) was solemnly held. The only child of the martyr couple, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, was born under this roof.
When the martyr stopped teaching in Ha Tinh and Thua Thien and returned to his hometown to establish the Association for the Promotion of Education to train revolutionary forces, the family house and the clan church were where the martyr organized teaching activities; held secret meetings with friends and comrades; translated and printed revolutionary propaganda documents; built the Youth Association base... the culmination of which was the establishment of the first communist cell in Thanh Chuong in Tu Vien village.
In the summer of 1929, Martyr Nguyen Sy Sach was captured by the French here. Martyr Nguyen Sy Sach Church was recognized as a National Historical Relic in 1998.
After many years of existence, the Nguyen Sy Sach Martyrs' Church has seriously degraded, especially the tiled roof which is sagging and damaged in many places. The front roof, the left corner near the pillar has broken and a large piece has fallen off.
The water retaining wall at the corner of the house was damaged, the tiles had fallen off, leaving the rafters exposed to the sun. Around this location, many roof tiles were about to fall off.
This situation of the roof tiles falling off appeared during the heavy rains in 2023 and the damage has become more and more serious. A week ago, about 2m of the tiled roof line at the back (on the right side of the house) broke off and fell down to the curb, breaking into pieces. In case of heavy rain, to prevent water from flowing into the house, the descendants of the Nguyen Sy family had people cover the line with corrugated iron.
Mr. Nguyen Sy Thiem (94 years old), younger brother of Martyr Nguyen Sy Sach, said: "The church's tiled roof has been damaged for a long time. The clan submitted a petition to the authorities and departments at all levels in 2023, but so far nothing has been done. The clan members really hope that the authorities will allow the relic to be repaired as soon as possible. The most important thing now is to replace the entire tiled roof to protect the wooden structure of the relic."
The Nguyen Sy Sach Martyr's Church was built by his family and clan to preserve and store many rare artifacts and documents. This is not only a place to commemorate and express the gratitude of future generations for the heroic sacrifice and merit of the martyr Nguyen Sy Sach, but also a red address to educate the revolutionary tradition for the younger generation.
The relic is currently in serious disrepair, causing the descendants of the Nguyen Sy family to worry. Visitors are also quite concerned about the deterioration of the relic.
Mr. Nguyen Doan Son - Chairman of Thanh Luong Commune People's Committee said: Thanh Luong Commune People's Committee has received a request from the Nguyen Sy Sach Martyr's Church Protection Team and the Nguyen Sy Family Council of Thanh Luong Commune regarding the urgent repair of some degraded items. The commune has organized an inspection, confirmed and made a report in March 2024, making recommendations to higher levels, hoping to request funding to promptly repair the relic.