My Son Holy Land (My Son Sanctuary)
Champa is a long-standing group of people on the strip of land in central Vietnam. In the history of development, with its unique indigenous culture and extensive multi-dimensional exchanges with many different cultures, Cham people have created a unique and diverse culture. They have left us a huge architectural complex of temples and sculptures of high artistic value.
My Son Holy Land is considered as “Angkor Wat of Vietnam”
The land of heritages
If Vietnam in general is proud of the land stretching on the windswept seashore, where is the exchange place of many different cultural flows in the world, the homeland of Quang Nam is prouder with two of the seven world heritages of the nation: the temples of My Son and Hoi An old town in a not very large area.. Referring to the My Son, we should not fail to mention the mysterious moonlit nights on the mossy antique tower. However, it is not possible to ignore the beauty of the art of architecture and sculpture of this ancient tower.
My Son is located in the territory of Duy Phu commune, Duy Xuyen district, Quang Nam province, about 70 km from Da Nang city to the southwest, 40 km from Hoi An city. My Son sanctuary lies in a valley about 2km in diameter, surrounded by hills and mountains, and the entire area consists of 70 buildings scattered across nine hills in the holy place.
My Son is a historical site must see if you travel Danang
Today, people going to My Son mainly to visit, learn and explore the ancient culture of the Cham people. The holy place was named after the Latin letter by a French scholar who discovered and studied the clump of ancient ruins. The letters A, B, C … N are named for the excavation works in M? Son. Visitors to My Son will visit, learn the Cham architecture from the 8th century to the “youngest” work from the 13th century here. After the 13th century, the royal dynasties in Cham-Pa did not build temples in My Son anymore; instead, they concentrated in Khuong Nam.
This is the most famous architectural complex of Cham people built from late 4th century to 13th century. On September 24, 1979, the Ministry of Culture and Information issued a decision recognizing My Son as an architectural monument of art and is now recognized as a World Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO.
The unique symbols
According to some researchers, the reason why Cham people chose Mau Son as a sanctuary is derived from the concept of fertility culture. The natural geography here is configured as a reproductive organism with the Rocky Mountain- the image of Lin-ga (the sacred penis), the basin of the My Son- the image of Yony (the sacred vagina) and Khe Che stream, the interstitial of Yony. The images of such reproductive organisms are carved in stone and are found very much in the area of this vestiges.
Nowadays there are still a lot of the different ancient objects from late 4th century to 13th century in My Son
All sections in Cham clusters were made of bricks, but by the 13th century, a stonework was found and it was the only stone temple of the Cham temples complex. Initially, medieval Cham people were influenced by culture, religion, and architecture from India, so the first architectural works here were a mixture of Champa and Indian cultures.
From the 9th to the 10th century, the Chams had architectural works reflecting the architecture of Indonesia, which proves that during this period, Cham people had cultural exchanges and were affected by Indonesian culture. Over time of development, nowadays, visitors can see the architecture of various cultural features here such as Khmer architecture, or even Southeast Asian architecture, or the familiar Northern Vietnamese architecture is also here. All of these values have blended into the world’s most prominent value to become the world’s cultural heritage.
The unique architecture and great vitality
Coming to My Son, visitors are surely surprised by the architecture art of this place. The temples are all built in the Indian style including the main temple surrounded by small stupas and sub- buildings serving as receptions, receptions, the storage of offerings or the storage of water used to bath the God statues. Cham towers are not very large. Normally, each towel is the worship hall of only a set of “Linga” representing God Siva who occupies most of the area, the rest area is a narrow path which is enough for a row of people to go around.
The temples are built in air- tight style with no windows, so the interior often lacks the light. Therefore, the three walls are designed with small triangular cells to put the lights. The temples always face the east, toward the sunrise, where is considered as the dwelling place of the god.
The most remarkable thing to realize in Cham towers is the tower building material. The towers are built of bricks admixed with decorated stone details. The brick-making technique of the Cham is so sophisticated and so wonderful that today it is not possible to conclude why the towers which are built from bricks without mortar have survived for millennia with sun, dew, rain, and dust. It can be said that the time can only wear away but not remove the bricks from each other. Moss is the feature of ancient buildings, but with the Cham towers, the bright yellow color of the bricks is still bright, though it has stood there for thousands of years in the rain. If there are no sandstorm trails left on the wall and the mistletoe on the pattern, we may think that the towers were just finished not long ago. Perhaps because of this, in ancient Chinese books, the Cham people are said to be the “master of brick- building art.”
The art of sculpture
In terms of the art of sculpture, in My Son, we encounter a very delicate and graceful style of sculpture but it still maintains a harmonious and attractive vitality. It seems that the peace and prosperity of the kingdom made the Cham artist’s mood and they have blewn their souls to the status making them lively in the charming, creative and mysterious beauty.
My Son is also accepted as one of the cultural heritage sites in the world
Among the sculptures here, the statue of Skanda standing on the back of the peacock is the strangest piece. The details on the peacock body are sculpted perfectly. The tail of the bird raises high, where each feather is described by a sharp method, which is folded together on a wide spreading tail. Then the wings, legs are carved in every detail. Unfortunately, the head of the peacock was broken, so we can not completely see the spiritual beauty of it. Skanda god leans back against a backdrop U –shaped steel, attached to the tail, and wears a hat with eight flowers, the hair of the god is curled up in five small bundles.
Important information for tourists
+ Entrance tickets to My Son Sanctuary: 150,000 VND / ticket for international visitors and 100,000 VND / ticket for domestic visitors (The ticket includes tramcar’s fare to visit the monuments and cultural performances)
+ Opening time: From 6:30 am to 17:00 (the relics are opened every day of the year, including holidays, New Year).
+ Transportation: In order to reach My Son Sanctuary, there are many means and forms to go, but the distance is not too far, so the bus and motorbike are the best choices.
+ The ideal time: Quang Nam has two seasons, the rainy season is around September – December with many storms and floods. You should come here from April to August. On the 1st and 14th of lunar months, especially on the Mid-Autumn Festival, rivers especially Hoai River in Hoi An will be decorated with beautiful lanterns and candles.
My Son Temple is a masterpiece of human creativeness, talent, are the living and unique evidence of the cultural traditions of the Cham civilization. It represents the ingeniousness of Cham people in architecture, construction, and sculpture that can not be imitated or reproduced. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly urgent to protect the ruins and hope that every of us will make a contribution to the protection process in the future.
