Dinh Bang Communal House

The dinh was the communal house of a Vietnamese village - meeting hall, court, and shrine to the village's tutelary spirit - and the one at Dinh Bang, finished in 1736 after decades of building, is the standard example of the type at its best. It stands on sixty columns of ironwood, some over half a metre thick, carrying a roof that occupies about two thirds of the building's height with deeply upswept corners, and the beams and brackets are carved throughout with dragons, phoenixes and scenes. There are no walls in the conventional sense - the structure is open below the roof, which is how the type worked.

What you'll find

• A communal house of 1736 - meeting hall, court and shrine in one.
• Sixty ironwood columns - some over half a metre thick.
• A roof two thirds of the height - with deeply upswept corners.
• Carved beams throughout - dragons, phoenixes and scenes.

When to go

Year round; the village festival is in the second lunar month. An hour.

Before you go

It is one building and takes half an hour. It is often locked outside festival and ceremony days, so seeing inside can need finding the keyholder. Interpretation is in Vietnamese.

Nearby

Phat Tich and But Thap pagodas are east; Hanoi is south-west.

Key facts