Value of an old house

In the old house system on Binh Duong land, Mr. Tran Van Ho's old house is a house of high value in terms of art architecture and decoration. This is a house made from precious woods, is a destination to visit, research the architectural art of many ancient house enthusiasts inside and outside the province.

The old house of Mr. Tran Van Ho from the outside

A valuable wooden house

The old house of Mr. Tran Van Ho is located at 18 Bach Dang Street, Phu Cuong Ward, Thu Dau Mot City. Mr. Tran Van Ho (self-made), formerly Doc Su during the French colonial period. According to the Provincial Museum's document, this house was built by Mr. Dau's father Tran Van Lan in 1890, completed in 1893. Because the landlords' descendants all moved abroad for a long time, so now the house is now under the management of the State.

All values, beauty of monuments are expressed in the space inside the house. The art of interior decoration shows that the house is both ancient, dignified, cozy and gentle. Mr. Mai Van Toi, who is looking after, opened the door to visitors at this monument, said he lived and worked here since 1984. Therefore, every corner to the carvings in the interior of his house is very wall. According to him, the special thing for this house to survive steadily with time is that the materials to make the house are made from precious woods, such as rosewood, sandalwood, woodpecker, rosewood ... when opening the door. Entering the inner space, everyone is very impressed with the arrangement of items, decorative patterns and long sentences. This not only reflects the previous lifestyle of Binh Duong people,

Relics built in the style of the word "nail", often found in old houses. In particular, the house has up to 36 round wooden columns, making the house a strong, solid. The structure of the rafters in the style of connecting the main column with the child pillars by "pseudo-craft" creates an open space, a rich system of nibs fastening the beams, guys, and traps to the top of the column in 3-dimensional space. The area between the wall and the church is the diaphragm painted with golden business cards, the posters, the couplets on the columns are very delicate and skillful by the old craftsmen.

The house has 3 rooms, 2 wings. The nave above is the church examination with the plaque carved in the shape of the four spirits. In the middle of that book is three lines of titles that worship the names of the worshiped gods: the God of the Sun is on the left; in the middle of worshiping heaven; on the right is the worshiping of the god and the bottom of the house of the patriarch for many generations. On the right and left sides, there are two elaborate mother-of-pearl shrines. The picture on the right shows the words "Hac Math" (living as long as the crane), the picture says "Qui Linh" (life as a sacred turtle). These words are carefully decorated with beautiful iridescent nacre with stylized writing, each stroke is an image of birds and flowers forming. On the two sides of each temple are couplets also be carefully conch. The ingenuity of the talented talented artisans. On both sides of the altar are the two bedrooms of the host (his and her room).

According to researchers in the ancient house of Binh Duong, the part showing the affluent life of the owner is in the interior decoration. From the sets of tables, chairs, tea cabinets, church cabinets to the diaphragm, couplets, schools, wooden planks (monolithic wood) are both perennial and of high artistic and economic value.

Viewed from the outside, the house looks quite low, with a roof of yin and yang moss. On the roof is also decorated with text, eight trigrams. In front of the homeowners also built a rockery. The garden is airy and has many ornamental plants. All together make the house an ancient, quiet different from the noisy atmosphere of the outside market street.

Destination to visit

This is a rare ancient house on Binh Duong land which has been recognized as a national monument. According to Ms. Van Thi Thuy Trang, who has many years of sticking with the relics and studying the ancient house system in the province, said the unique feature of the house is the second door layer, shown in the touches. embossed, engraved, engraved on the door frame, the door. The main door frame is built in the style of Tam Quan, the surface of the door frame carved four times, above the subject, below the topic, creating vivid harmony through feeling the time of each season. The presentation of topics on the door is also divided into squares, the four-part pattern "Mai - Lan - Cuc - Truc" with intricate detail frills ... All the decoration, patterns , the couplets inside the house have shown the skillful carving and carving of ancient wooden workers on Binh Duong land.

Having the opportunity to visit and learn about this monument, which many people find attractive and interesting, also in the Han culture is shown in the diaphragm, the pair, on the altar, the book, the plate diaphragm, the opposite of a house. The poems and sentences here are presented briefly, concise and simple but rich in humanity. In 1993, Mr. Tran Van Ho's house was recognized as a national historical-cultural monument. In order to promote the value of monuments, in recent years, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Provincial and Local Museums regularly carry out the restoration, repair and protection of monuments. Every year, the monument welcomes many delegations to visit, learn, research on wooden architecture, especially students of architecture faculties at universities. Besides, many people inside and outside Binh Duong province also come here to visit, learn more about the architecture of construction, decorative patterns when storing their wooden houses.

The house has a façade facing southwest, in front of the Saigon river flowing every day, and on the right is a hill (Thu Dau Mot City Party institution today). This is considered a good feng shui location, often chosen by the people of the Southern region to build houses, especially families with high social status and wealth. With the advantage of being close to the river, the hill, and the open façade facing the river directly, in recent years, the ancient relic of Mr. Tran Van Ho is also a convenient sightseeing destination by the river.

At this point, when Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong put into operation a river train traveling between the two localities, this monument will be connected to other destinations located near, along the Saigon River to bring to serve the needs of tourists to visit and learn. Hopefully, with the values ​​of preserved wooden art architecture, the ancient house of Mr. Tran Van Ho will become an interesting destination for exploring, visiting, researching and experiencing with near and far tourists.

Reported by Hong Thuan – Translated by Vi Bao