FVH Excursion to Kieu Ky village

Sat 25 Sep 2010, 8.30 am – 1.30 pm
Meeting Place: Sofitel Plaza Hotel, Hanoi (side entrance on Đường Yên Phụ)

Excursion to Kiêu Ky, the gold leaf making village

Join Friends of Vietnam Heritage for a half-day trip to Kiêu Ky – a commune in Gia Lâm district – which is well known for making thin gold leaf.

Under the Lý dynasty, the scholar Nguyễn Quí Đức went to China as an envoy and discovered how a bar of pure gold could be transformed into thin gold leaf. He returned to his village and shared this knowledge which made Kiêu Ky famous for this art.

To produce gold leaf, there are three main work stages: flattening, laminating, fragmenting; and more sub-stages. The products are usually sold to individuals, organizations, and provincial institutions throughout Vietnam to gild on câu đối đỏ, on horizontal and lacquered boards, or to gild statues of Buddha in pagodas, and to gild ancient relics. Gold leaves are used to guild Buddha and other religious objects, pagodas, temples, other important buildings, furniture and more…

We will visit the homes and workshops of well known artisans and discover the skills and methods of manufacture.

Watch as gold is turned into thin gold leaf used to gild objects. We will afterwards stroll through the village.

Feel free to bring along a snack or bag lunch, as we will not return until the early afternoon approximately 1 – 2 pm. We will provide the bottled water.

Cost: VND 200,000

Limit: 22 participants

Register
Contact Barbara Barbu at: [email protected], or mobile 094 300 9894
Please remember to include your mobile or contact phone number, so we may contact you in case of any last minute changes.