According to VietKings, on October 13, 2024, within the framework of the program “Folk Cakes of the Three Regions and Bac Ninh Tourism Connection” at the Dong Do Cultural Ecological Tourist Area (Luong Tai district, Bac Ninh province), the WorldKings officially awarded the World Record to Dong Do Technical Commercial Company for the “Thap Than Nong Tower. -shaped grain made from the most stone mortars in the world.”
Accordingly, the 15-meter-high Than Nong Tower is divided into 5 floors. The tower is made up of 1,012 stone mortars, weighing 130 tons.
Inside the Than Nong Tower, there are stairs leading up and down, designed in the shape of a grain of rice standing vertically. The ensemble of stone mortars, stone rice mills, and stone rice/rice mills… are arranged around the tower to form a display area for stone objects associated with wet rice agriculture.
A representative of the company said that the tower is installed with an audio system and color-changing lights to make the tower come alive and change colors dynamically, reflecting the process of rice grains from green to golden ripe.
The Dong Do Cultural Ecological Tourist Area covers an area of 20,000 square meters, with the highlight being the ecological stone mortar garden with more than 3,000 artifacts related to stone mortars and axes. These artifacts were collected by Mr. Tran Van Toan – Chairman of the Members’ Council of Dong Do Technical Commercial Company over decades.
Mr. Tran Van Toan – Chairman of the Members’ Council of Dong Do Technical Commercial Joint Stock Company
According to Kyluc.vn, Dong Do Technical Commercial Company (Bac Ninh) was established in 2008 as a driver training and testing center, as well as a motor vehicle inspection center for Bac Ninh Province.
Dong Do Technical Commercial Company has a large-scale investment on an area of more than 9 hectares, being the first and only driving test yard in Bac Ninh province.
With a large area of land outside the driving school campus, Mr. Tran Van Toan has transformed Dong Do into a multi-functional cultural tourist area with public works, entertainment, cultural experiences, and resorts.
According to the business registration, the director and legal representative of the company is Mrs. Tran Thi Thuy (born in 1968). The company has a charter capital of VND 50 billion, in which Mr. Tran Van Toan contributes 80% and Mrs. Tran Thi Thuy contributes 20%.
The Tycoon Behind the 130-Ton Stone Mortar Tower, ‘Tháp Thần Nông’, Achieves a World Record in Bắc Ninh, Vietnam.
Within the Dong Do Village Cultural and Ecological Tourism Area lies a unique ecological stone mill garden. This garden boasts a collection of over 3,000 artifacts related to stone mills and millstones, meticulously gathered by Mr. Tran Van Toan. The collection showcases a fascinating insight into the traditional stone milling process, with each artifact telling a story of a bygone era.
