My Son Sanctuary

My Son Sanctuary is located in Duy Phu commune, Duy Xuyen district, Quang Nam province, about 69 km from Da Nang city and near Tra Kieu ancient citadel, including many Champa temples, in a valley about 2 km in diameter, surrounded by hills and mountains. This used to be the place for worshiping of the Champa dynasty. My Son Sanctuary is considered one of the main temple centers of Hinduism in Southeast Asia and is the only heritage site of this type in Vietnam. 

People often compare this Holy Land with other main temple complexes in Southeast Asia such as Borobudur (Java, Indonesia), Pagan (Myanmar), Wat Phou (Laos), Angkor Wat (Cambodia) and Prasat Hin Phimai (Thailand). Since 1999, My Son Sanctuary has been selected by UNESCO as one of the modern and modern world heritage sites at the 23rd session of the World Heritage Committee according to standard C (II) as a typical example. The image of cultural exchange and according to criterion C (III) as the only evidence of Asian civilization has disappeared. Currently, this place has been included in the list of 23 especially important national monuments by the Prime Minister of Vietnam. My Son was probably built in the fourth century. 

Over the centuries, this Holy Land has been supplemented with large and small towers and has become the main relic of Champa culture in Vietnam. In addition to its ceremonial function, helping the dynasties reach the Gods, My Son was also the cultural and religious center of the Champa dynasties and the burial place of powerful kings and priests. The first relics found date back to the era of King Bhadravarman I (Pham Ho Dat) (reigned from 381 to 413), the king who built a Cathedral to worship the linga and Shiva. My Son is greatly influenced by India both in architecture (shown through the temples and towers that are immersed in the splendor of the past), and in culture - shown through the inscriptions in ancient Sanskrit on the panels. beer. Based on other inscriptions, it is known that this place once had the first temple made of wood in the 4th century. More than 2 centuries later, the temple was destroyed in a large fire. In the early 7th century, King Sambhuvarman (reigned from 577 to 629) used bricks to rebuild the temple that still exists today (perhaps after moving the capital from Khu Lap to Tra palanquin). Subsequent kings continued to repair old temples and towers and build new temples and towers to worship the gods. Brick is a good material to preserve the memories of a mysterious people; and the construction techniques of these towers of the Cham people are still mysterious to this day. People have not yet found any appropriate answers about the mounting materials, brick firing methods and construction methods. The towers and tombs date from the 7th to 14th centuries, but excavation results show that Cham kings were buried here since the 4th century. 

The total number of architectural works is over 70. My Son Sanctuary may have been the religious and cultural center of the Champa state when the capital of this country was Tra Kieu or Dong Duong. After the kingdom of Champa fell, My Son Sanctuary sank into oblivion for centuries, and it was only discovered in 1885. Ten years later, researchers began conducting clearing and studying this relic site. French scientists' research on My Son can be divided into two periods: By 1904, the most basic documents about My Son were published by L. Finot and H. Parmentier. T

The Holy Land area consists of many clusters of towers, each cluster has a main tower (Kalan) in the middle and many small sub-towers surrounding it. Kalan often worships Linga (vital energy) or Shiva image. In front of each cluster of towers is a gate tower (Gopura), followed by a vestibule (Mandapa), a construction item that functions as a place to arrange offerings and dance and sing ritual ceremonies. Next to it is an architecture that always faces North (the direction of the god of fortune, Kuvera), including 1 or 2 rooms, called Kósa Grha, used to store offerings and food offerings to the gods.[1] The towers all have a pyramid shape, symbolizing the holy Meru peak, the residence of Hindu gods. The tower gate often faces east to receive sunlight. 

Many towers have very beautiful architecture with images of gods decorated with many types of patterns. Most of these structures are now in decline, but here and there there are still fragments of sculptures bearing the golden mark of the legendary Champa dynasties. The main temples in My Son worship a linga or image of Shiva - the guardian god of the Champa kings. 

At My Son Sanctuary, there is a temple built of stone, it is also the only stone temple of Cham relics. The stele at My Son said that this temple was last restored with stone in 1234. But unfortunately, the construction was not completed. When the French discovered My Son, it had the foundation it has today, above was a giant pile of bricks that took them 2 months to clean (according to My Son Circle, author Parmentier, 1904). Today, this temple has collapsed (perhaps due to American bombs during the Vietnam War, because right next to the tower is a deep bomb crater that still has traces of it) but its foundation system shows that it is over 30 m high and this is the highest temple in the Holy Land. This. 

Documents collected around this temple complex show that this is likely the location of the first temple in the fourth century. The first conservation work took place in 1937 by French scientists. During the period from 1937 to 1938, temple A1 and small temples around it were restored. The following years, from 1939 to 1943, towers B5, B4, C2, C3, D1, D2 were restored and reinforced. However, many towers and mausoleums (including complex A with the once magnificent A1 tower - including the 24-meter high main tower A1 and 6 surrounding sub-towers, destroyed in 1969) were destroyed during the War. Vietnam. 

The majority of the temples in central area groups such as B, C and D still exist, and although many statues, altars and lingams were taken back to France during the colonial period or have recently been transferred to museums such as the Vietnam History Museum, Ho Chi Minh City Museum and Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture, there is still a third museum set up in two temples with the support German and Polish help to display models of the remaining tombs and artifacts. On March 24, 2005, Quang Nam province held an inauguration ceremony to introduce the My Son relic with an area of ​​5,400 m² with the main exhibition house measuring 1,000 m² right at the entrance to the relic (about 1 km) by Japan provides non-refundable sponsorship. 

However, there are still many concerns about the condition of architectural works, some of which are likely to collapse. During the period from 2002 to 2004, Vietnam's Ministry of Culture and Information spent about 7 billion VND (USD 440,000) for the emergency restoration project of My Son Sanctuary; A UNESCO project supported by the Italian government with an amount of USD 800,000 and restoration efforts funded by Japan are also helping to prevent their deterioration. 

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