The worshipping house for Nguyen Khuyen

The worshipping house for Nguyễn Khuyến is situated in Vị Hà hamlet, Trung Lương village, previously Yên Đổ, Bình Lục district, Hà Nam provice. A visitor can arrive at the worshipping house from Nam Định city, going along the road N' 21A to Phủ Lý town, turning right at the milestone N'17, going on 1 km farther. If starting from Hà Nội, along highway N'1A, when arriving at Phủ Lý town, going by the road N'21A about 14km and then turning left at the milestone N'14, riding on 1 km father visitor can get to the worshipping house.

Nguyễn Khuyến was a poet. His real name was Nguyễn Văn Thắng, but he used the pen names Quế Sơn and Miễn Chi. Nguyễn Khuyến was born 15 February 1835, in Hà Nam provice. He graduated as a Doctor of literature (at first class of examination) at the age of 37 and acted as a mandarin of Nguyễn dynasty in the duration osf 12 years. Nguyễn Khuyến retired when he was 50 years old and lived in his native land.

The worshipping house consists of 3 bays built of Lim wood, with brick walls and tiled roofs. Various objects related to Nguyễn Khuyến's life and work have been preserved. The noticeable ones are:

*The picture of Nguyễn Khuyến in which he is wearing the flowing tunic and a satin turban and looking at a very small cup.

*A trunk of books and a cane pipe with fine carving on it, containing his dissertations written when he was young.

*Two tablets with the characters "An Tự Vinh Quy" (i.e. honourably returning home with great favous and in trappings) bestowed by king Tu Duc. A rolling book with Doctor Dương Khuê's essay of congratulations.

*A pair of wood panels on which the contrast couplet was engraved, offered by the Governor of Ninh Bình and Thái Bình provinces.

Beside those, lots of precious objects can be seen inside and outside the House, such as the rockwork, the sindora ornate bed thet Nguyễn Khuyến used to lie on in the last years of his life.

The landscape in the area is very beautiful: the fruitful orchard with various trees such as: longans, shaddocks, jaicls, cocoas, oranges, and numerous flowers: tuberoses, michelians, roses, and cycads. Kumquats and chrysanthemums, adored by the Poet when he was alive, also can be seen in the garden.

Nguyễn Khuyến worshipping house House was acknowledged by the Vietnamese government as a history cultural relic in December, 1991.

External links

* [http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguy%E1%BB%85n_Khuy%E1%BA%BFn Nguyễn Khuyến, Wikipedia tiếng Việt]
* [http://www.hanam.gov.vn/index.asp?newsID=255&language=tiengviet Nguyễn Khuyến, Hanam site]
* [http://vietsciences.free.fr/vietnam/danhnhan/tacgia/nguyenkhuyen.htm Nguyễn Khuyến, Vietsciences site]
* [http://www.vietmedia.com/literature/vanthisi/?ID=10 Nguyễn Khuyến, Vietmedia]
* [http://www.vietmedia.com/language/nguyenkhuyen/ Tiểu sử Nguyễn Khuyến, vietmedia]