Bo Bat ancient ceramic village, Bach Lien village now, belongs Yen Thanh commune of Yen Mo district in Ninh Binh province. According to documents, Bo Bat ceramic village was known thousands of years ago with unique white ceramic products, as well as pottery products for construction. The existence of the pottery products in Ninh Binh has been confirmed through a lot of clay layers and dense pottery pieces. Under Ly – Tran dynasties, many high-quality products used to construct were created by the talented craftsmen of the village. In addition, various delicate pottery products have been found near temples of King Dinh and Le such as dragon head, the face of sacred animals, statues of ducks, birds, turtles, dishes and household items. As stated in stories of villagers, in 1010, when King Ly Thai To moved the capital to Thang Long (Hanoi now), a wide range of skilled artisans in Bo Bat village followed the court to build a new capital and to produce pottery products serving for the court and the people there. These artisans came and settled down along Red River, where had good type of clay to manufacture ceramics and established Bat Trang craft village nowadays. This is the name that combined Bo Bat and Truong Yen to remember the hometown Hoa Lu, the place that born pottery craft. After the talented artisans had left Thang Long to set up new pottery ward, Bo Bat’s people no longer kept traditional craft. Gradually, people who stayed mainly cultivated rice to live and forgot the ever flourishing career for a while. Pottery in Bat Bo has been “lost” since then.
It seems that the traditional craft will disappear, but Pham Van Vang, people of Bach Lien village, had studied by himself and had learned the ancient craft of the village. Then he came back the village to open pottery kilns and enthusiastically trained for villagers with the desire to restore the ceramic craft that had brought fame to the village. Together with his determination, villagers of Bach Lien, Thanh Yen is gradually restoring the pottery craft has lost during 1,000 years. Besides the main products such as wind chimes and ceramic necklace, many products are manipulated sophisticatedly such as vases, cups, bowls, and plates with various shapes and colors of glaze. Especially, the decorative patterns are the traditional patterns that express the skill and talent of the craftsmen in the native land of occupation.
Come here, visitors can feel the bustling atmosphere of a village which is gradually revived and see the beautiful products made by the skilful hands of the artisans here. Moreover, tourists can also admire the culture of Vietnam through the decoration on the ceramic products including folklore and spiritual culture. There are also products with patterns, textures related to the historical and cultural value of the ancient capital creating distinctions for Bo Bat ceramics. During the journey around Hanoi, tourists can visit the pottery village of Bach Lien to see and also buy beautiful ceramics as a gift for families and beloved ones.
