Cai Cuong ancient house is one of the famous tourist destinations of Vinh Long province, Vietnam. With its unique architecture and long history, this work is considered a valuable local cultural asset. And it has become one of the tourist destinations not to be missed when coming to Vinh Long.
General information of Cai Cuong ancient house
The ancient house was built in the early 20th century by Mr. Pham Van Bon which nickname Cai Cuong – a wealthy businessman of Vinh Long. This house has gone through many stages of construction and history, from when Cai Cuong built it to live in until it was included in the list of national cultural relics. Cai Cuong ancient house has gone through many events, but still retains its beauty and historical value.
Source: collected
Located on An Binh island in Binh Hoa Phuoc commune, next to the shore of Cai Muoi canal that never stops boats, the house is considered one of the extremely unique and impressive works. The harmonious combination of East – West architectural styles has brought this place a beauty that is both modern and very majestic and ancient. Having undergone many restorations, up to now Cai Cuong Ancient House still retains its internal arrangement and decoration while demonstrating its sustainable aesthetic value over the years.
The unique architecture of ancient house
The ancient house has a perfect design with “internal and external harmony”, meaning the interior is associated with traditional aesthetic beauty – Eastern culture, while the exterior is the interior corresponds to modern, luxurious Western architecture.
Source: collected
With a width of 15m, the house uses ironwood to make 6m high columns to support the yin and yang roof combined with ancient fish-scale tiles of each house. At the front, the building has a corridor connecting to both sides of an elegant bow-shaped staircase, creating a spacious open space. The columns and walls here are all decorated with reliefs of the Renaissance period, thus both minimizing weather impact and possessing high aesthetics.
Coming to the porch, you can see the Western architecture clearly expressed through two symmetrical bow-shaped stairs leading up to the house. This is exactly the type of French mansion with an open-air altar like a small temple placed in the middle. When stepping from the entrance, you will see this part exactly like a screen blocking the middle of the facade.
The materials used to decorated exterior also impressive; covered with encaustic tiles to create a gentle, floating pattern; the porch is covered with a wooden ceiling covering the tiled roof, completely different from traditional houses in the Mekong Delta. The zig zag patterned border in terracotta brown mixed with earthy yellow decorated on the facade wall also creates a particularly attractive highlight.
Stepping inside the ancient house, the entire main structure of the house is made of precious wood with a bold, ancient Asian decoration. Cai Cuong Ancient House consists of 3 parts: the front house, the middle house and the back house, separating them are large wooden walls that are especially elaborately and sophisticatedly carved. In general, the front house and the middle house are very large spaces with tables and chairs for welcoming guests, family altars… while the back house is divided into 3 smaller rooms: 1 room is empty with a door leading to the garden; two symmetrical bedrooms completely covered with ironwood.
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The highlight of an ancient house is certainly not to miss the large and small windows that are often opened wide to let light in and the items made of ironwood or rare items such as wardrobes and sofa sets, tables, chairs, and divans date back to the late 19th century.
A ancient painting in the house (Source: collected)
Carved images on wooden panels and walls also contribute to giving the house an artistic beauty. The team of artisans skillfully decorated this place with animals very familiar to the early Southern land such as monkeys, birds, horses, deer, tigers… at the same time, transforming them without following any classic standards, to create an extremely unique highlight.
Cai Cuong Ancient House and Mr. Cao Van Nam’s boat house are works that you must visit if you love to explore unique architectural beauty.
Useful information about Cai Cuong ancient house
- Best for: solo, family, student.
- Entrance: Free
- Tourist spots nearby: Vinh Trang Pagoda, Thoi Son Islet, Vinh Long Museum, Hai Van Farm, Vinh Long Ceramic Brick Village, Trà Ôn floating market, …
