Hoi An Travel

Travel to Hoi An enjoys ancient houses in Hoi An. Hoi An, whose small streets are crowded with ancient wooden houses roofed with yin-yang tiles and ventilated by wind holes, quietly lies by Hoai river bank and has calmly existed for hundreds of historical years and up to now the town gently whispers into visitors, ears a story of its prosperous time.

One of the common features of ancient houses is their yin-yang tile roofs. Hoi An tiles are mad of based thick and very hard. Each piece is a square whose side is elevated and about 17-22cm long. Houses roofed by yin-yang tile roofs are very airy, especially in the dry season. Another important feature is the eye-shapes on the front doors, which is considered as the soul of the ancient houses.

Hoi An ancient people thought that all human beings and objects had “eyes” to look at the real life and themselves. Therefore on the doors are wooden circles like 2 eyes looking towards the roads, which are called the door-eyes.

An ancient house must have a lot of wooden pillars in the center and along the 2 sides of walls with all kinds of rafters, beams, ceilings, partitions, doors and staircases and so on. The biggest pillar is called principal column or main column in the shape of a circle cylinder or square cylinder located near the center of the house. Most of the ancient houses are entirely of precious iron wood which is good against humid-proof and termite. In the house, there are a lot of big beautiful wooden boards engraved with Chinese characters is red lacquer or gilded with gold. The ones hang horizontally are called Horizontal lacquered boards white the long, narrow ones vertically hang on columns in pairs are called pairs of wood panels. Both the horizontal lacquered boards and pairs of wood panel show the pride and elegance of the house owner. Paralleled sentences are inscribed or nacred on the wood panels covered by lacquer, subtlety expressing indicating the art of playing words by the writer. The most distinctive feature of the ancient houses in Hoi An may be their architecture and sculpture on wood. The houses lie side by side ut they have different structures. When walking on the streets, visitors would see the high and low tile roofs, and the arts of architecture and wood sculpture are most clearly demonstrated at these highest sections. There is a system of wooden frames and girders close to the house roof – top, created by putting big and short wooden columns together in order to support beams and rafters of the roof, which helps to make the unity and to concentrate all forces into the pillars, etc. This frame system is called the set of “vi keo”, or “vai” called by Hoi An people.

Inside an ancient Hoi An house, the most beautiful, sophisticated and painstaking one is the set of “vai” of its second chamber which is behind the space for shop and close to the garden. Normally, this is used as a living room where the set of wooden furniture, settee, tea drinking – table surrounded by old porcelain vases, landscape paintings and paralleled sentences inscribed on silk are hang on the walls, etc. The sets of “vai” are stylishly carved with lithe images such as leaf shaped clouds, fillets, precious worshipped animals. These are lissome and eye-catching sculpture works which are still strong enough to support the lays of tile roof above and make them romantic and less heavy.

There are 4 types of “vai”, in which the most charming and distinctive are 2 types of “vai trinh chong” including “tru doi (overlapping columns)” and “vai vo cua (“vai” in the shape of crab-shell)”. When looking at the sets of “vai”, visitors wil see there are a lot of short and unequal columns lying on the horizontal kingpost and the depestals of their bottom parts are widened like the shape of a pumpkin or a lotus or finger citron fruit, which are “vai trinh chong – tru doi”. With the type of “crab-shell” or “turtle-shell” ceiling, the roof-top is not 2 crossing-cutting planes, but is bent basing on the cambered arch. The frame supporting this arched roof is called “vai vo cua” and often carved so sophisticatedly that not many people may think it can bear forces. These frame systems can indicate their artists, great talents in sculpture and the pride of the house-keeper.

An ancient house often has 2-3 types of “vai” used in different roofs. Especially the house wooden frames are attached each other by spelling, not by iron nails. At the top of the main set of “vai”, there is a wedge called the “main key” of all houses, frames. Therefore, it is only required to detach this main key for moving the house to another place. Moreover, purlins which are transverse beams of the ceiling must be calculated as long as the number of purlins, basing on the subsequence of purlins, basing on the subsequence of 4 words “birth” or “old age” in order to avoid the bad omens for the house keeper. Additionally, purlins can be elaborately and spectacularly decorated with the popular carved images such as carps, Eight weapons, four Seasons, crabs, shrimps, serpents like monsters, fishermen, woodcutters, tenant farmers and readers, etc. These have contributed to the everlasting attraction, speciality and distinctive values of Hoi An Ancient Houses. It is a must for visitors to be in some tipiclas of hundreds of such ancient houses in Hoi An Town.

The Quan Thang ancient house

The Quan Thang Ancient House was more than 150 years old, being well-preserved as its primitive status. It was the most typical and beautiful house of Hoi An with the architectural style of Hoa Ha area (China) thanks to the excellent talent of Kim Bong carpenters. By their own great capacities, they brought to the House lively natural images such as birds, flowers, butterflies and stripes of red silk which are not only supple and exquisite but also very refined. The walls around the “Thien Vinh (God Resting)” yard considered the most beautiful parts of the House have a lot of small squares or rectangles with enough depth for the carved images inside stand out, describing the life of farmers, nobleness of the set of Four Season Pictures, surrounded by carps, squirrels, bunches of grapes which are lively as if they were the real ones. The landscape outside the House is cool, romantic and harmonious with the beauty inside, making visitors feel comfortable when visiting the House.

Old House Of Tan Ky

There have been either five or seven generations of Tans living here, depending on whom you speak with. Built over 200 years ago, the four small rooms are crammed with dark-wood antiques. The room closest to the street is for greeting visiting merchants. Farther in is the living room, then the courtyard, and, to the back, the bedroom. The first three are open to the public. A guide who will greet you at the door will hasten to explain how the house is a perfect melding of three architectural styles: ornate Chinese detailing on some curved roof beams, a Japanese peaked roof, and a simple Vietnamese cross-hatch roof support. The mosaic decorations on the wall and furniture are aged, intricate, and amazing. Take your time looking around.

Phung Hung Old House

Believed to be built in 1780, this 3-storey private residence has a mix of Chinese and Japanese structural designs. The main roof of the first floor is four-sided and influenced by Japanese architecture while the balcony on the upstairs has a Chinese rounded “turtle shell” roof. The house also features a trap door that is used for moving furniture during an emergency like flooding. The house’s third floor became a refuge for other families during the town’s worst flood in 1964. It is said that house has been inhabited by the same family for eighth generation.

The Tran Family Worship House

Like many houses in Hoi An, of the Tran Family Worship House is influenced by Chinese and Japanese architecture. The house, which was built by a mandarin of civil service named Tran Tu Nhac, is surrounded by a garden and high fences. The house has two parts: the main part and the auxiliary part. The first part is a place for worship while the second one is reserved for the family and a guest residence. The worship hass has three doors. Each door serves different types of visitors. The left door is for men. The right door is for women. The middle door is for the grand parents – it is open on Tet Festival or some festival days.

Ancestor worshiping house in Hoi An

One of the typical architecture features in Hoi An is expressed through worshiping houses where offspring generations celebrate and respect their ancestors, merits and contributions. Visitors should visit several following ancestor worshiping house in Hoi An to contemplate their solemn architectures as well as discover the ancient and present worshiping conventions and customs of Hoi An people

Tran Ancestor Worshiping House – Address: 21 Le Loi St

The Tran Family – a common family name has existed in Hoi An’s early time, approximately since 1700. The Tran worshiping house was constructed by Tran Tu Nhac, a mandarin who worked in the time of King Gia Long and was assigned to deliver diplomatic affairs in China. He was attached himself to the homeland, so he decided to have an ancestor worshiping house built for his descendants and it was also his way to respect the ancestors of the Tran Family.

The Tran ancestor worshiping house was built up in conformity with the principle of traditional geomancy under strong influence of Japanese and Chinese architecture style. It is secluded house nestled in a large garden featured with quiet landscape and green trees and plants. The House architecture consists of two divisions: the main division for worship including 3 gates. Among them, two side gates are used for male and female isolated accommodation while the central gate is used for grandparents and only opened on Tet Holidays or worship days. Many antiques are preserved in the house such as red-lacquered and gold-trimmed wooden box, a sword, a set of seals by Tran Tu Nhac. Moreover, the Tran ancestor worshiping house is an exhibition place for Tran Family, antiques. Visitors can buy and collect their favorite things when they call at this location.

The Tran ancestor worshiping house is not only a place for the Tran family’s members to gather, worship their ancestors and handle their family affairs annually but also a fascinating tourist destination in Hoi An.

Truong Ancestor Worshiping House – Address: 69/1 Phan Chu Trinh St

The Truong Family originated from the Fukian province of China and the Truong Family’s members have been famous for their business, scientific researches and their significant contributions and efforts to the national economic growth and cultural development. The Truong ancestor worshiping house was constructed in the mid 19^th century. Under the impact of time, this worshiping house has been degraded and damaged and it is currently financed for restoration according to its original architecture. Being in the Truong Family Chapel, visitors wourd be very interested in witnessing old items which were gifted by Nguyen Lord such as title-conferring records, education diplomas and certificates on display. These achievements resulted from considerable contributions of the Trung family’s members to the country during the Nguyen dynasties.

· Nguyen Tuong family worshiping house – Address: 8/2 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai St

· Tang family worshiping house – Address: 16 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai St.

· Nguyen family Chapel - Address: 24 Le Loi St.

· Pham family worshiping house – Address: 58/9 Le Loi St

· Pham family worshiping house – Address: 96 Tran Phu St

· Phan Xuan family worshiping house – Address: Hamlet 3 – Cam Kim

· Huynh family worshiping house – Address: Khoi Son Pho 1, Cam Chau

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