About 20km to the west of Hanoi downtown, Cu Da village bears a unique cultural space. The houses here still preserve the typical architecture of the Northern Delta of the old time of either three-compartments (Nha Ba Gian) or five-compartments (Nha Nam Gian). In addition, the village boasts the elegant French colonial two-storey houses built hundred years ago or so.
The gate of Cu Da communal house
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The age old ambiance of the village remains intact defying the test of time. Ancient trees, fish-scale communal house roofs, Buddhist pagoda, the village gates, old houses all that make visitors feel like going back hundreds of years.
Thanks to the favorable location for trade, the village is prosperous and wealthy. Its thrived the most by late 19th and early 20th centuries. At that time, the village was dubbed “entrepreneur village”. However, there’re thieves mingling with visitors against public order and security, so the houses have gates besides the gates at the entrance of every hamlet which wooden door closed at night. The village roads were built of brick with a running bond pattern. Above all, this is the first and only village in Vietnam where houses got numbered, lanes and hamlets have signboards like in the city. This is rarely seen in any village in the Northern Delta region and the whole country.
Cu Da temple
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Cu Da ancient village is a tourist destination in Hanoi for those who love to learn architecture, Vietnamese history, traditional craft village or who simply come here to be immersed in the peaceful scene and feel like time is standing.
