The Than Nong Tower is located in Lam Thao Commune, Luong Tai District, Bac Ninh Province with an area of 20,000m2. The Than Nong Tower - a symbol of the god of the rice civilization - is made up of 1,012 stone mortars arranged in an outer ring, with a solid concrete frame inside. The tower is designed in the shape of a grain of rice, erected vertically.
The 15m high Than Nong Tower, divided into 5 floors, is a unique destination, attracting visitors to Bac Ninh province, both creating a landscape and serving an experiential cultural education model.
Sharing the reason for his strange collection, Mr. Tran Van Toan - Chairman of the Board of Members of Dong Do Technical and Commercial Company Limited said: “As agricultural production becomes more and more modern, in many rural areas, stone mortars, stone shafts, rice mills... are left on the roadside, on the dusty banks. I spend time and money to collect stone mortars, build an exhibition area, thereby wanting to preserve and conserve the culture of the countryside, of agricultural culture, and preserve the memories of a generation, a cultural and historical period of the Northern countryside”.
"I want the exhibition area to be a place for my children's generation to experience and learn about the objects associated with the lives of previous generations," he added.
This is the first exhibition area of stone mortars and wet rice culture in Bac Ninh province, aiming at the development of experience services, services, and sustainable tourism, contributing to promoting the socio-economic development of Luong Tai district and Bac Ninh province; at the same time, contributing to preserving, conserving, and promoting the quintessence of Kinh Bac culture and wet rice culture.
Image of Shennong Tower honored as Asian record:
Panoramic view of Shennong Tower from above. 
To get the Than Nong tower, over the past 20 years, Mr. Tran Van Toan has spent a lot of time collecting stone mortars from all over the country.
In the beliefs of the Vietnamese people, Shennong is the one who taught people how to grow rice from ancient times and blessed farmers to ensure a peaceful and prosperous life from bountiful harvests.
Shennong Tower is 15m high, divided into 5 floors, made of 1012 stone mortars.
The constellation Scorpio is cleverly placed on top of the tower.
Building a tower with stone mortars is a huge challenge during the construction process. The construction unit must select stone mortars of similar sizes and transport them to the top.
Inside the Shennong Tower there are steps up and down, designed in the shape of rice grains, built vertically.
The complex of stone mortars, stone shafts for pulling rice, stone mills for grinding rice and paddy are arranged around to create a display area of stone tools associated with wet rice agriculture.
Architect Nguyen Sanh - a famous artist in researching and restoring ancient cultural spaces, the idea of arranging heavy stone mortars into the Than Nong Tower - the god of wet rice agriculture - has come true.
On November 30, the Vietnam Records Council (VietKings) awarded the Asian record certificate to the Stone Mortar Tower (Shen Nong Tower) shaped like the largest rice grain in Vietnam.
Source: Le Phu/Tin Tuc Newspaper
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