Tan Ky Hoi An ancient house is a skillful and harmonious combination of three architectural styles: Japan - China - Vietnam, preserving many valuable antiques with positive meanings of life philosophy, reminding future generations of valuable lessons about being human, humanity - courtesy - righteousness. That is why the ancient house has become an attractive tourist destination for domestic and foreign tourists, even government officials, to come and visit.
A place to preserve the ancient beauty of Hoi An
Tan Ky Ancient House is located at 101 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Minh An Ward, Hoi An City. This location is very beautiful because on the same street are other famous cultural and historical sites, such as: Hoi An Folk Culture Museum, Hoi An Traditional Arts Performance House and Sa Huynh Culture Museum. Besides, from Nguyen Thai Hoc Street to Chau Thuong Van intersection, you will immediately encounter Thu Bon River - known as the Mother River of Quang Nam Province.
Tan Ky ancient house located at 101 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hoi An city (Quang Nam) has very special marks, therefore in 1985 this house was ranked as a National Monument.
The ancient house was built in 1741, late 18th century. This is where the Le family lived for 7 generations. From the second generation, the owner started to name the house Tan Ky (meaning prosperity), expanding the trade and agricultural business.
In 1964, a historic flood occurred, this ancient house was also severely affected, the entire first floor was flooded, but fortunately, its architectural and cultural values were still almost intact. In 1990, Tan Ky ancient house was honored to be granted a certificate of national historical and cultural relic, and was recognized by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage.
Hoi An's hundreds of years old living relics
Up to now, this place is more than 200 years old, guarded by the 7th generation descendants with most of the architecture still well preserved despite having gone through many natural disasters. However, this is still a private old house, the owner still lives on the top floor, the lower floor is open to visitors.
Mr. Le Cong, a Chinese businessman, became rich from trading agricultural products at that time. He used a boat to go up the Thu Bon River to the highlands to get agricultural products to Hoi An to trade and became rich from there. In his son's generation, the house was named Tan Ky - meaning prosperity in business.
The name of Tan Ky ancient house was given by the second generation owner with the wish for prosperity, bringing and helping the business and trading process to be more favorable.
In front of the house is the bustling Nguyen Thai Hoc street for business and trade, behind the house is the gentle Thu Bon river for convenient import of goods. By the 20th century, the alluvial deposits of the Thu Bon river narrowed the river mouth, large merchant ships could not enter Hoi An, causing the once famous trading port to gradually weaken, and the Le family's business was also affected, increasingly declining.
Tan Ky ancient house has witnessed many historic floods. The peak was in 1964, when floodwaters reached the roof of the first floor of the house, but the house remained undamaged, defying the erosion of time.
Architecture that blends many cultures
Tan Ky ancient house has 2 floors and 3 rooms built in the architectural style of the intersection of 3 cultures. Seen from the outside, Tan Ky ancient house clearly depicts the tubular architecture with ancient yin-yang tiled roofs mixed with the highlight commonly seen in Chinese decoration, which is a large sign engraved in Chinese and below in Vietnamese to introduce the name of this house.
The house is built in the typical tube shape of Hoi An ancient town, divided into many separate rooms. There are no windows but it is still very airy and cool.
The house has 2 floors divided into 3 main rooms, built according to feng shui (Metal - Wood - Water - Fire - Earth)
The special thing is that this house has no windows, the sunlight is illuminated through the courtyards, porches and rooms. At Tan Ky ancient house, visitors can easily see Chinese characters engraved on the pillars, the tables and chairs used to entertain guests and enjoy tea are carved with sophisticated patterns, both ancient and luxurious.
The ancient house is designed in the traditional Vietnamese style of a three-room house, with a ceiling covered with yin-yang tiles. The main highlight of the house is the pillars, trusses, crossbars, and trusses (vertical wooden bars connecting the pillars) which are elaborately carved with typical images such as: "fish head and dragon tail architecture", "pumpkin", "pomegranate" or the carved architecture of "peach" symbolizing longevity, "bat" full of happiness...
Through the talented hands of the artisans of Kim Bong carpentry village, the interior and decorations of Tan Ky ancient house become sophisticated, lasting forever over time.
It is known that the types of wood used are all precious woods, such as Lim wood,... showing the prosperity of the owner. On the ceiling, instead of modern light bulbs are golden lanterns that light up the space with wooden beams, all of which reflect the classic style of interior architectural design.
The living room is built according to feng shui: Metal - Wood - Water - Fire - Earth. The roof is tiled in the harmonious yin - yang style, creating a cool and airy atmosphere in the summer, and a cozy and warm atmosphere in the winter, imbued with Japanese architecture.
The ancient house still preserves many beautiful horizontal lacquered boards and parallel sentences, with notable ones such as: "Tam thuong thai" (meaning to keep the mind always calm), "Tich duc luu ton" (meaning to teach children to preserve good virtues for the next generation). In particular, there is also a parallel sentence "Bach Dieu" written with 100 strokes, each stroke like a bird flying, which is considered by archaeologists to be unique.
In the early stages of Tu Duc's reign, the house had only one floor because the king stipulated that houses could not be built higher than the king's palanquin could pass by.
In addition, one of the most valuable antiques displayed at Tan Ky ancient house is the unique Confucius cup in Vietnam. According to historical records when determining the age, the "Confucius" cup is from 550-600 years ago. This cup has been in the Le family for 200 years. This cup has a strange shape, it looks very simple but it has a very profound meaning: when holding water, it can only hold 8 parts, if you pour more, the water will automatically flow out. The purpose that the ancients aimed for was that each person needs to control their behavior and keep their mind pure. According to the Le family, this priceless cup was bought by the ancestor from rich merchants from China and brought here to trade.
Even though years have passed and time has eroded, the 200-year-old Tan Ky ancient house still stands tall, as a witness to the ups and downs of history.
