The Hang Kenh Communal House (Đình Hàng Kênh) is the city's most important surviving piece of classical Vietnamese wooden architecture. The building dates from the early eighteenth century and is dedicated to Ngô Quyền, the tenth-century king who defeated the Chinese fleet on the nearby Bạch Đằng River and effectively founded an independent Vietnam.
The interior is the highlight: more than three hundred sculpted dragons in dark ironwood, twisting through the roof beams and the lintels in an astonishing display of carving virtuosity. The dim, smoke-stained timber and the sheer density of detail repay a slow, careful look. Photography requires a small donation.