Restoring ancient towers at the My Son World Cultural Heritage Site. (Photo: Huu Trung/VNA)

In the journey to regain its original form and ancient values, the World Cultural Heritage My Son has received cooperation from domestic and foreign organizations and experts from many countries.

Mysterious beauty

Located nearly 70km from Da Nang city, in Duy Phu commune, Duy Xuyen district, Quang Nam province, My Son Sanctuary is an architectural complex consisting of many Champa temples with extremely unique architecture.

Forgotten for a long time up to centuries, it was not until 1885 that this place was discovered and in 1999 this place was chosen by UNESCO as a world heritage as the only evidence of a disappeared Asian civilization.

My Son Sanctuary is located in a valley about 2km in diameter, surrounded by rolling hills. This was once a place for worship as well as the tomb area of ​​kings, mandarins, and royal relatives of the ancient Champa dynasties.

The My Son Sanctuary dates back to around the 4th century – the earliest in My Son, King Bhadresvara built a temple dedicated to King Bhadravarman – the founder of the first royal lineage in the Amaravati region at the end of the 4th century, who was assimilated with the god Siva, becoming a cult of god-king worship and royal ancestors.

This is a complex of more than 70 temples with many architectural and sculptural styles typical of each historical period of the Champa kingdom.

The architectural styles here are divided into 6 types: ancient style, Hoa Lai, Dong Duong, My Son, PoNagar and Binh Dinh people's style. Most of the architectural works and sculptures at My Son are influenced by Hinduism.

Cham brick carving techniques rarely appear in other arts in other regions. The towers are all pyramidal, symbolizing the sacred Mount Meru, the abode of Hindu gods. The tower gates often face east to receive sunlight. The outer walls of the towers are often decorated with S-shaped leaf motifs.

Skilled workers participate in the restoration of Tower H under the guidance of Indian experts. (Photo: Huu Trung/VNA)

The decorations are sandstone sculptures of Makara (a mythical beast with sharp fangs and a long trunk), Apsara dancers, lions, elephants, Garuda birds, and praying people. They are placed tightly together and to this day, no research has been able to determine the adhesive, human figures, or shapes on the tower.

The highlight of Cham sculpture is the expression of the strong vitality of human beings with an inner soul that is sometimes soaring and refreshing, sometimes calm and thoughtful, and sometimes troubled and tormented. Each historical period has its own mark with different architectural features. My Son Sanctuary in Quang Nam not only shows the masterpiece of Champa architecture but also of the entire Southeast Asian culture.

The sanctuary as a whole: consists of two hills, facing each other in the East-West direction and right at the intersection of a stream, the streams have become natural boundaries dividing this place into four areas A, B, C, D. This division is in accordance with feng shui factors and also avoids the situation of separating the architectural complexes.

The center of the Sanctuary is a main tower (Kalan) and many small auxiliary towers surrounding it. The main tower has two doors facing east and west, each door has 8 steps to go up and arches. On each arch is a miniature tower, according to the remaining documents, this is the tallest tower among the holy towers in My Son with a height of 24m, the base of the tower is square, each side is 10m long. In the tower is a large Linga - Yoni set (now only a Yoni stone pedestal remains).

The upper part of the tower has 3 floors, the floors gradually getting smaller and the top is the sandstone tower peak. Each floor has a fake door, with a figure standing under the arch. The two fake doors on either side are two overlapping arches, decorated with very sophisticated patterns.

Time and war have severely destroyed this relic. But what remains here is still the mysterious beauty, unique architecture with distinct features of the Champa people. This is what has attracted the curiosity of domestic and foreign tourists to come here to visit and explore.

My Son Sanctuary not only has its own distinct architecture but also has the Cham culture with gentle and graceful Cham dances. Unique to the worship dances is the sacred dance to pay homage to the gods in the tower temples.

Tourists will see Cham dancers often carrying candles, water, fruits, betel and areca nuts on their heads to offer in celebration, looking very lively. Or the Apsara dance is a dance for the stage. The grace and smoothness praise the beauty, the perfect curves that nature has bestowed on the beauties, easily capturing the hearts of tourists when they come to My Son.

In addition, there are also many unique art activities such as folk performing arts, fire-biting dance, offering dance, water dance...

International cooperation in heritage conservation

Over the years, Vietnam and the international community have made many remarkable efforts to help the World Cultural Heritage My Son preserve its unique identity as well as its true values ​​for the future.

In the journey to regain its original form and ancient values, My Son World Cultural Heritage has received and cooperated with domestic and foreign organizations, experts from many countries, and central agencies such as the Institute of Monument Restoration, the Institute of Archaeology, the Department of Heritage, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Quang Nam Monuments and Landscapes Conservation Center... to implement key projects of the Lerici Foundation through UNESCO, which sponsored 200,000 USD (in 1999) to implement the geographic information system (GIS) program for My Son Heritage Site.

Materials used to restore the relic were strictly selected to meet the requirements of preserving the core values ​​of the ancient My Son towers. (Photo: Huu Trung/VNA)

The project cooperated with America Express organization, sponsored through the World Heritage Fund 75,000 USD (in 2002) and the Institute of Archaeology to conduct two excavations (2002 and 2005) to clear the Khe The stream flowing between area A and area BCD to prevent landslides in group A towers.

Along with efforts to prevent degradation of the relic, a series of projects have been implemented and brought about practical results such as the project to build My Son Exhibition House from non-refundable aid from the Japanese Government through JICA, with an amount of 299 million yen (equivalent to 43 billion VND in 2005) to provide information and introduce an overview of My Son, contributing to promoting the image of My Son, raising people's awareness of this relic.

The tripartite cooperation project of UNESCO-Vietnam-Italy on “Presentation and training on international standards for the conservation of My Son G tower group” with a total budget of more than 1.3 million USD, has significantly contributed to the reinforcement, prevention of degradation, and gradually reshaping the original state of the G tower group.

In addition to the support of the international community, the Investment Project for the conservation and urgent restoration of some items in towers E and F in the national target program, including the completion of the restoration of tower E7 (started in June 2011 and completed in May 2013).

Project "Training Center, Cultural Relics Conservation of Quang Nam Province" restores G4 tower and excavates archaeological excavation of L tower group.

National scientific project "Ecological diversity of My Son special-use forest" with many related work items such as Khe The stream ecological embankment, regeneration of dozens of hectares of natural forest, and hydrological research of Khe The stream.

The project of translating and transliterating Cham steles was carried out in cooperation with experts from the New Delhi Cultural Center (India).

The My Son Master Plan for the 2008-2020 period approved by the Prime Minister in 2008 has become the foundation for preserving and restoring the My Son heritage to a higher level.

Materials used to restore the relic were strictly selected to meet the requirements of preserving the core values ​​of the ancient My Son towers. (Photo: Huu Trung/VNA)

The Indian Government is providing funding and counterpart funds from the Vietnamese Government with a total cost of more than VND60 billion to carry out the project of restoring towers K, H, A of the My Son relic site from 2015-2020. Thereby contributing to saving towers K, H, A at risk of collapse and reformatting the architecture to create sustainable relics, promoting the value of attracting tourists, Mr. Phan Ho shared.

Along with the concern for material culture, intangible cultural values ​​have been and continue to be an important issue that needs to be preserved, maintained and promoted. In the past 20 years, the most outstanding value of the work of preserving intangible culture is the successful construction of the My Son Cham dance brand.

The Cham folk art troupe and today the Cham Folk Art and Culture Department are constantly being strengthened, supplemented with unique folk dance performances, attracting tourists and preserving and conserving precious traditional cultural assets, contributing to creating unique cultural and tourism products of My Son.

Director of the My Son World Cultural Heritage Management Board Phan Ho said that in more than eight months of 2019, the number of visitors to this heritage is estimated at nearly 285,000 people, a thousand-fold increase compared to 20 years ago, with revenue estimated at over 40 billion VND, contributing to the development of the local socio-economy and reinvestment in heritage conservation.

It can be said that after 20 years of being honored by UNESCO, the management and conservation of the World Cultural Heritage My Son has achieved important results. The legal basis for the conservation of this heritage is increasingly consolidated, direct intervention through restoration and embellishment work helps the architecture of the relic gradually move out of the dilapidated state, into a stable and sustainable stage.

The cooperation and coordination between domestic and international agencies have created a premise and valuable experience in the management, conservation and restoration of Cham architectural relics in general and My Son in particular. The relics are preserved, conserved and promoted in a sustainable manner, contributing to affirming the brand and destination of My Son World Cultural Heritage on the tourism map of Quang Nam and Central Vietnam./.

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/bao-ton-di-san-van-hoa-the-gioi-my-son-cau-chuyen-chua-bao-gio-cu-post594009.vnp