Nha ruong – an acient wooden house in Quang Tri province

Nha ruong ancient house

(Cinet)- Hai Chanh commune, Hai Lang district, Quang Tri province is home to Hoi Ky ancient village in over 500 years old with the numerous ancient wooden houses known as Nha Ruong, religious establishments, and the peaceful lives of the local people.
Along road to Hoi Ky village are temples, pagodas and clan worship houses which boast unique architectural styles. But visitors are most amazed at the centuries-old wooden houses nestled in large gardens along O Lau River.These houses belongs to the Duong family clan with 5 or 7 rooms and wing rooms and are made of thick solid wood. Their columns and doors are engraved with dragons, unicorns, phoenixes and other delicate patterns.
The antique house was built in 1889 during the reign of King Thanh Thai. The home is now 121 years old  as part of the fourth generation to live in the house and carry on the tradition of ancestor worship.
The house has a width of 12.3 meters, a length of 9.5 meters, and is divided into three sections built in a T- shape. A total of 18 doors are also divided into groups of three to create balance in the home. In addition, there are four alternating tiled roofs and nine graded ones comprising over 10 thousand tiles. The house is supported by 48 pillars made of jackfruit wood (forest jack), with each pillar measuring 30cm in diameter.
In each house, there are lacquered boards with parallel sentences teaching children to do good. Doors between rooms are beautifully decorated. The room in the middle is used to worship the ancestors while its two neighboring rooms serve living and bed rooms.
Of the other two wing rooms, the one on the west is for boys and the one on the east is for girls. There’s also an entresol in the house that contains rice and other home objects.
Walls of the house are made of lime and wood hammered bricks. Every house is surrounded by trimmed green tree fences.Depending on the size of the house, each roof has between 10,000 and 20,000 brick tiles made of clay. The tiles are rectangular, thin, flat and can produce a bell sound when they are knocked. This way of tiling makes the house cool in summer and warm in winter.
Visitors to the village are amazed at the numerous ancient wooden houses known as Nha Ruong, religious establishments, and the peaceful lives of the local people.
The locals in Hoi Ky are proud of their houses which stand firm and retain their traditional values despite of war and climate devastation. These houses have great historical, cultural and architectural values, according to Kitani Kenta, an expert from the UNESCO’s World Heritage Institute at Japan’s Waseda University.