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Phuoc Loc Tho is a collection of 22 large and small ancient houses, each beautiful, the beauty of ancient artifacts is rare. The owner of Phuoc Loc Tho has invested effort and money to travel all over the country to collect and rebuild them in a harmoniously arranged space. The paths in Phuoc Loc Tho are also "wonders" for those who love fine arts. The winding roads are paved with large rectangular split green stones covered with green grass, on both sides are bamboo bushes, rows of bamboo, along with many "strange flowers and rare plants" and hills... like skillful, evocative accents and highlights. There are also roads paved with emerald green cement, along with artistically designed imitation wood cement bridges across gentle streams that make visitors feel like they are lost in a fairy tale. These are ancient houses - the traditional houses - that will tell visitors about many unique cultural features.
Mr. Cao Minh Sang, 36 years old, son-in-law of the owner of Phuoc Loc Tho, said that each ancient house in Phuoc Loc Tho has an interesting cultural feature. There is a 3-room, 2-wing Southern house; a Vietnamese stilt house with a communal style; a Northern-style house with 104 columns, 1,000 elaborate and sophisticated patterns with sets of two, three, four, five, six...; a 5-room, 3-wing house of the Nguyen Dynasty that only the king was allowed to build; a Khmer stilt house in Tay Ninh, a Thai ethnic stilt house; a small house with a quadrangle and octagonal shape, called a small house in Hue... All the houses are built with precious woods such as cam xe, ca chat, red wood, trac, dau... The wooden columns of the houses are wood carvings of the late 19th - early 20th century with a harmonious combination of strength and flexibility, solidity and softness according to the philosophy of yin and yang. Most of the rafters, columns, beams, pillars, louvers, ceiling walls... are inlaid with mother-of-pearl, mother-of-pearl, elaborately carved with many flowers, leaves, anecdotes, parallel sentences with many different patterns. The house with the most columns is 114 columns and the least is 36 columns with a unique and beautiful architectural style. In particular, there are 6 stilt houses in the cultural style of the Central Highlands people, all built with high-quality wood, most of which were collected from Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, Quang Nam...
Along with the massive collection of restored ancient houses is a collection of antiques decorated in the houses. For example, the small quadrangle house, which was the home of high-ranking officials of the Nguyen Dynasty, has a set of three bronze statues of the same era, vividly depicting Buddha Tathagata, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha. On the back of these statues are engraved seals. The 300-year-old statue of Buddha Tathagata of the Khmer people is in another house. The interior of these ancient houses are all rare items, such as a large bed formed from a single large piece of wood. "During the Nguyen Dynasty, only emperors had a bed made from a single piece of wood. High-ranking officials had a bed with two pieces. As for commoners, they had three or more pieces. This single-piece bed was the royal bed of King Bao Dai," said Sang. Phuoc Loc Tho also has another Nguyen Dynasty dragon floor, gilded with gold, the sides are carved with scenes of border guarding, fighting against foreign invaders, fishermen, woodcutters, and herders, along with the daily activities of the four classes: scholars, farmers, and workers. There is an ancient mother-of-pearl cabinet that, when illuminated, emits 7 sparkling colors... Phuoc Loc Tho is also a place to preserve the daily life items of many members of Vietnamese society, from kings, mandarins, landlords, and people to the spiritual and cultural objects of the Vietnamese people made of various materials such as wood, iron, bronze, ceramics..., with diverse ages and rich types. Among them are ancient items with modern style from the time when the French first came to colonize Vietnam, such as telephones, radios, gramophones, cameras, lamps...
With such a huge and rare collection of ancient houses and antiques, Phuoc Loc Tho Ancient Village Tourist Area was recognized by the Vietnam Book of Records as the place with the most ancient houses and the most diverse and rich patterns in Vietnam in 2010. In 2013, Phuoc Loc Tho was certified as one of the 100 most impressive destinations in Vietnam by UNESCO Vietnam.
