Hoanh Son Communal House, also known as Ngang Village Communal House, is located in Thien Nhan Commune, Nghe An Province, approximately 35 kilometers southwest of Thanh Vinh Ward. It is a notable example of architectural and artistic heritage in Nghe An, distinguished by its large scale, remarkable wooden structure and rich system of carvings created in the 18th century.
According to local folklore, Hoanh Son Communal House is associated with a story about heavenly carpenters who were sent down to the human world to build a large communal house in Hoanh Son Village, known in the local vernacular as Ngang Village. The village lies along the Lam River and has historically been affected by frequent flooding. This folk story reflects how local people explained the extraordinary scale and beauty of the communal house while expressing their appreciation for the craftsmanship, creativity and community spirit of the local population.
Based on inscriptions, architectural characteristics and carving techniques, researchers have determined that Hoanh Son Communal House was built around the mid-18th century during the Le Trung Hung period, with its construction dated to 1763. The communal house is primarily dedicated to Uy Minh Vuong Ly Nhat Quang, while also enshrining the Four Holy Mothers and various Buddhas.
Architecture of Hoanh Son Communal House
Hoanh Son Communal House was built on relatively level ground covering approximately 1,663.3 square meters. The monument consists of the Great Hall and Rear Sanctuary, arranged in a Nhat-shaped layout combined with a hammer-handle extension, together with a courtyard, garden and surrounding walls.
The communal house gate is approximately 4.5 meters wide. The courtyard covers 181.79 square meters and is paved with fired clay bricks. The grounds are enclosed by low walls, with various trees planted inside to create an open setting that complements the traditional landscape of a Vietnamese village communal house.
The Great Hall is the most important structure, covering approximately 330.4 square meters and measuring 25.97 meters by 12.725 meters. It consists of seven bays and two side compartments. The roof system includes two large roof slopes at the front and rear, together with two gable roofs, all covered with traditional yin-yang tiles.
The ridge is prominently decorated with the motif of “Two Dragons Facing the Sun,” with two dragons turning toward the sun at the center. The roof corners and curved decorative elements are adorned with mythical creatures, giving the building a dignified and imposing appearance.
The wooden framework of the Great Hall consists of six principal trusses supported by a total of 32 columns, including 12 main columns and 20 secondary columns. The trusses employ several traditional structural techniques, including stacked-rafter systems with gong stands and layered beams, as well as the kẻ chuyền structural form.
The most distinctive feature of the Great Hall is its wood-carving art. Architectural components such as roof trusses, side trusses, diagonal beams, decorative brackets, wall panels and wind panels were extensively used by artisans as surfaces for a wide variety of carved subjects.
Dragons, phoenixes, tiger-mask motifs, flowers and foliage, swirling clouds, the Four Sacred Animals and the Four Seasons appear throughout the structure. Many motifs were executed using deep relief and openwork carving techniques, creating pronounced depth and a strong sense of movement across the decorative surfaces.
In addition to mythical creatures, Hoanh Son Communal House is particularly notable for its depictions of everyday life and traditional stories. Artisans incorporated scenes of rowing boats, fishing, plowing fields, cooking rice, transplanting rice seedlings, village festivals, successful scholars returning home to pay respects to their ancestors, martial arts examinations and candidates checking examination results.
These scenes create a diverse artistic world in which ordinary village life appears alongside religious symbols, spiritual beliefs and traditional literary and historical narratives.
Several carved panels depict stories such as “Immortals Playing Chess,” “The Four Hermits of Mount Changshan,” “King Cheng Tang Recruiting Yi Yin,” “The Great Sage Defying Heaven” and “The Dragon Horse Carrying the Hetu.” Dragons are represented in numerous forms, including dragons hidden among clouds, trees transforming into dragons, fish transforming into dragons and mother dragons with their young. Phoenixes are also shown in different poses, including dancing phoenixes and phoenixes carrying books.
The decorative brackets of the Great Hall are primarily shaped as tiger-mask motifs. With protruding eyes, an upturned nose, a wide-open mouth and strongly defined lines, these carvings combine openwork and deep relief techniques to create a powerful and animated appearance within the wooden framework.
Particularly noteworthy is the fact that the decorative art of the communal house does not focus exclusively on mythical creatures. It also reflects the social life of the period. Images of working people, daily activities and community events were incorporated into the wooden architectural components, creating a distinctive combination of courtly art, religious symbolism and folk art.
The Rear Sanctuary covers approximately 44.8 square meters. It consists of a single bay, with three sides enclosed by walls and an entrance at the front. Its ironwood framework comprises two trusses using the kẻ suốt structural form, supported by eight columns. The Rear Sanctuary is more simply decorated than the Great Hall and serves as the main worship space of the monument.
Historical and Artistic Value
Hoanh Son Communal House is a representative example of Vietnamese village communal-house architecture of the 18th century. Its outstanding value lies first in its large architectural scale, its well-structured wooden framework and, most notably, the dense system of carvings covering almost every major structural component of the Great Hall.
The decorative themes demonstrate the richness of Vietnamese folk artistic thought. Alongside the Four Sacred Animals, the Four Seasons and other sacred symbols, the artisans depicted numerous scenes from ordinary life. These carvings possess not only aesthetic value but also provide insight into the beliefs, spiritual life and creative abilities of the people of Nghe An during the 18th century.
Hoanh Son Communal House currently preserves 10 valuable ancient statues, including a notable set of statues representing the Three Buddhas of the Past, Present and Future. The statues, ritual objects and architectural components together contribute to the overall historical and artistic value of the monument.
The communal-house complex also reflects the interaction between village guardian deity worship, Vietnamese folk beliefs and Buddhism. Uy Minh Vuong Ly Nhat Quang is worshipped as the principal deity of the communal house, alongside the Four Holy Mothers and various Buddhas.
With its outstanding architectural and artistic values, Hoanh Son Communal House was recognized by the Prime Minister as a Special National Monument under Decision No. 2082/QD-TTg dated December 25, 2017. It is one of the notable Vietnamese village communal houses that has preserved its large architectural scale and rich system of wooden carvings, contributing to a deeper understanding of the development of Vietnamese folk architecture and art in the 18th century.
