Bat Trang Ceramic Village – Home to the Pottery Familes

Home to Vietnamese generations of potters,  Bat Trang Ceramic Village, a 14th-century porcelain and pottery village in the Gia Lam District of Hanoi, has attracted a large number of visitors every year.

The village has been there with rain and sun, with joy and sorrow throughout centuries and empires. Conquering with the cruel devastation of time, Bát Tràng stands still and perfectly protects its precious treasure of the art of ceramics. At the first glance, Bát Tràng is completely no different from any other normal villages in Gia Lâm ward, except for having some pottery stores and workshops of all sizes and types.

Video to see Hanoi Ceramic Road:

When you go slightly deeper inside, the whole market, where some special snacks such as grilled coconut pies are served, reveals in the opposite of a big workshop. And what makes the place more worth-visiting are some fantastic famous ceramic artists’ houses.

It will be a long day to speak of the woeful and majestic history of Bát Tràng. However, it is known that the place has been existing for a long time but officially moved to Gia Lâm after Emperor Lý Thái Tổ moved the capital from Hoa Lư to Thăng Long (now as Hà Nội) in 1010. The villagers of Bồ Bát consisting the great five lineages Nguyễn, Lê, Phạm, Trần, Vương back then migrated their best artists and their families to Thăng Long and formed Bạch Thổ Phường (former name of Bát Tràng) near Red River bank, where had the best kaolin as a material.

Afterward, they started their living by making and selling potteries. Bát Tràng pottery is always amongst the finest and the most aesthetic kinds with superb quality bearing the soul and pride of once time magnanimous Asian Empire.

Map your way to the Bat Trang Village:

The road from the city to the village is reachable (from 10km – 15km) and it takes merely an hour.

Proudly saying about the place, but there are still some little reminders for whoever wants to visit the village. First of all, Bát Tràng is a ceramic village so there is nothing much can be done except for wandering around, trying to make some potteries and enjoying some snacks at the market.

Secondly, as arriving at the village, you will easily receive lots offers from the locals to drop by at their pottery workshop and they are quite consistent so you should stay calm and choose whether to do so or to go elsewhere.

Lastly, there are so many pottery workshops so it is a tough decision to make whether to choose this or that. Therefore, before having the intention of choosing one, remember to ask the owner for the process and the price for making and burning pottery. In the village, you can have some fun and spend time making pottery with your friends. It is an intriguing and hard process but you will learn after all. Most workshop owners are artists and they know how to make this well so you can count on them.

The price for sculpturing and folding one, as the last time I came here was around 40.000 Dongs with no time limit. However, if you want to burn pottery and bring it home, it will cost you another 40.000 Dongs or so. In the end, it is still about the moment so take your time and enjoy the beauty.

To see more photos, check the open album below or go to Flickr:
Photo Album Flickr
(Please use the left/right arrows to navigate in the files of the open album)

Words by Trang Nguyen
Photos by Hanh Le

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