My Son sanctuary belongs to Duy Phu, Duy Xuyen district, the central province of Quang Nam, about 70 km southeast of Da Nang city and 40 km from Hoi An.
The My Son sanctuary is located in a valley with 2 km in diameter, surrounded by hills and mountains in the 100-400 m high mountain range from eastern Truong Son mountain range via My Son to the Tra Kieu capital.
My Son is a Hindu sanctuary of the kingdom of Champa. Each king, after ascending the throne, went to here to hold holy mass bleaching ceremony, offer gifts and build temples. It is an only address of the Cham art which had a process of continuous development from the 7th century to 13th century. In the 7th century, king Subhuvarman built temples by sustainable materials, which still exist today. The successive kings then repaired the old temples and built new ones to dedicate them to goods.
If you stay in Hue and have plan to Hoi An and visit My Son, book a private car with us to explore this holly land. Get more information here!
The main temples in My Son sanctuary worshiped a set of Linga or an image of Siva – a genie who protect the king lineages of Champa. The god who is worshiped at here is Bhadresvara, the king who founded the first ruling dynasty of the Amaravati region in the late fourth century. He, in combination with the name of god Siva, became the main religious belief of worshiping the god-king and royal ancestors.
In 1885, My Son sanctuary relic was discovered by a French scholar named Mc Paris. In the early 20th century, two researches of France telecom namely L. Finot L.de Lajonquiere ad architect-cum-archaeologist H. Parmentier came here to study the Cham inscriptions, architectural and sculptural arts.
The temples are divided into several clusters and constructed under the same principle. The structure of each cluster consists of a main temple (Kalan), surrounded by small towers or auxiliary works. The main temple symbolizes Mount Meru – the center of the universe and a place to gather the Genies and worship God Siva. The sub-temples worship the gods who look after directions. In addition, other works are usually towers with tile roofs where pilgrims prepare and store offerings. The temples of he Cham people have no windows, only the auxiliary towers have windows.
The Cham tower temples were made of brick, paired with decorative sandstone patches. They were placed close to each other and now there is no research determining any binder among them. After the tower’s walls had been built, sculptors began carving flowers, human and animal features… on the towers. The Cham people’s sculptural technique on brick appears little in other arts of the region.
You can visit My Son sanctuary from Da Nang or Hoi An by car and see minishow Apsara dance. Get more information here!
Each tower temple in here has three main parts: tower base, tower body and tower roof.
Among 225 Cham relics found in Vietnam, My Son sanctuary has about 70 tower, 32 stales exist in this or that form. No tower here remains intact but they are still the best evidence for exploring the development of the Cham Art. The Cham sculpture Fhas the images of priests and dancing girls. The most outstanding feature is the vitality of the man with inner feelings that are sometimes high-faulting, cheery, quiet, grieved, worried, harassing.
Book Hue to Hoi An via My Son sanctuary with us to discover this holy land and see Apsara Dance show.