DUONG LAM VILLAGE  

Duong Lam is a village in Son Tay town, Hanoi. It is the first old village honored by the government of Vietnam with the title National Historic and Cultural Monument on 19th May, 2006. This is the birth place of many well-known people such as King Ngo Quyen, King Phung Hung, former Vice Prime Minister Mr. Phan Ke Toai, former Southern Government Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky. That’s the reason why Duong Lam is called the land of two kings: Ngo Quyen and Phung Hung.

Duong Lam consists of 5 villages: Mong Phu, Dong Sang, Cam Thinh, Doai Giap and Cam Lam. These villages closely connected with each other to form a complex with manners and customs which have remain for hundreds of years. Nowadays, Duong Lam still has typical factors of a Vietnamese village: village gate, banyan tree, ferry habour, temples, pagodas, patrol tower, wells and paddy fields. The road system in Duong Lam looks like a fish bone, with which, you will never turn your back to the temple. It is the way they show their respect to ancestors.

Duong Lam also has a special ancient village gate in Mong Phu village. Unlike others with curly roof, the village gate is like a house with 2-sides-dipped roof. Mong Phu communal house was built in 1684 (King Le Huy Tong era) with typical tradition Vietnamese style. The yard is lower than the ground around it. When it rains, the water gets in to the yard and follows 2 canals to get outside. They call it “the dragon beard”. Duong Lam also has many houses built many years ago. Dong Sang, Mong Phu, Cam Thinh in turn have 441, 350 and 165 old houses dated back to 1649, 1703 and 1850. Mia Pagoda was rated as special by Ministry of Culure, Sport and Tourism. The pagoda has 287 statue of which 6 were made of bronze, 107 were made of wood and 174 were made of clay.