Thành Chương Việt Palace

Situated at a 10,000-square meter area at Dây Diều slope, Hiền Ninh commune, Sóc Sơn district, painter Thành Chương began building Việt Phủ (Palace) late 2001 and finished it in 2003. The palace preserves and honors Vietnamese spiritual and special art values. Non-tangible and tangible values make the palace to become a lively museum. This place has become a tourism product to serve the 1000^th year of Thăng Long – Hà Nội and the National Tourism Year 2010 in Hà Nội.

Tường Vân house in Thành Chương Việt palace. Photo: TH

Thành Chương Việt Palace has 25 cultural works which combine architecture, sculpture, art, religion and food. Coming hear, visitors can see Vietnamese architecture and sculpture art which colorizes old houses of hundreds of years old such as stilt houses, Thanh Tĩnh, Tường Vân, Đại Khoa and thatched cottage houses. The works are simple and closed to Vietnamese people but very sophisticated. The palace features Vietnamese people’s spiritual life via belief and cultural works such as Sơn Tĩnh, Thiên altar, stone altar, Phổ Hiền Bodhisattva statue and Ngựa temple. Particularly, cultural and art heritages of traditional operetta and Bắc Ninh folk song, ceremonial song, strolling blind music, chầu văn, hầu đồng and water puppetry will be performed here. Việt Palace will see the display of Thành Chương painter and Vietnamese leading artists as well as collections of rare antiques from the dynasties of Đinh, Lý, Trần and Lê.

All architectural works at Việt Palace have special features, bringing Vietnamese people with national identities. This is Chương’s own way which concentrates on restoring the relic based on the soul of other prototypes, bringing viewers a multidimensional view.

Chương takes visitors back to the past with lots of great surprises. Việt Palace has become the destination of many famous people and Vietnamese people’s pride as well as imagination of international tourists. The appearance of Việt Palace has made an important contribution to the capital city’s cultural development. Besides theaters, museums and old relics, the palace makes the Vietnamese art atmosphere more beautiful. Tangible and non-tangible cultural values of the palace make foreign tourists surprised and they admire Việt Nam more.

The U.S.’s Former Ambassador to Việt Nam Raymond Burghardt said in a visit to Việt Palace said “People often say turning the dream into the truth. However, with this work, he has turned the truth into a dream”.  

                                                                     Thanh Hiền