A number of Hoi An’s wooden buildings date from the first half of the 19th century or earlier. Imaginative visitors feel thai they have been transported back 3 couple of centuries to s time when the wharf was crowded with sailing ships, the streets teemed with porters transporting goods to and from warehouses, and traders from a dozen countries haggled in a babble of different languages.
Hoi An is special because from the 16th century on, many flourishing commercial ports such as Malacca & Penang developed. Today, most of these either decayed totally or became a large modern port. In both cases the original townscape was lost through neglect or demolition. What’s amazing about Hoi An Ancient town is it’s still intact and was built mainly in wood and is known to flood every year.
Town lay out: The ancient town is situated on the north bank of the Thu Bon river and covers an area of 0.3km . There is a street running east-west along the river’s edge and three further streets parallel to the river. They are intersected at right-angles by streets and alleys. Within this area there are houses (often combined with shops), religious monuments such as pagodas, temples, communal houses, family cult houses, a ferry quay and an open market.
All of which is still operating today.
Architecture: The building style of Hoi An combines traditional Vietnamese designs & techniques with those from other Asian countries, whose citizens settled there to trade and built houses and community centres in their own designs. These influences came principally from China, but Japanese styles can also be seen in certain details.
Famous Japanese Bridge: There is an ornate wooden bridge, reminiscent of Japanese examples, with a pagoda on it. It has existed from at least the early 18th century. The Japanese bridge can be found in many local paintings.
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