Mỹ Sơn
| Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary* | |
|---|---|
| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
| State Party |  Vietnam
|
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | ii, iii |
| Reference | 949 |
| Region** | Asia-Pacific |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 1999 (23rd Session) |
| * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO. | |
Mỹ Sơn (pronounced [mi sɤn]) designates a Hindu temple complex, located in the village of Duy Phú, in the administrative district of Duy Xuyên, Quảng Nam province, Central Vietnam, 69km southwest of Da Nang, and approximately ten km from the historic town of Trà Kiệu. Many Champa temples exist in a valley roughly two kilometers wide, surrounded by two mountain ranges. The site of religious ceremony of kings of the Champa dynasty,Mỹ Sơn also served as a burial place of Champa royals and national heroes. The Mỹ Sơn temple complex constitutes one of the foremost temple complexes of Hinduism in South East Asia and the foremost heritage site of this nature in Vietnam.
The temple complex often has been compared to other temple complexes in South east Asia, such as Borobodur (Indonesia), Angkor Wat (Cambodia), Pagan (Myanmar) and Ayutthaya (Thailand). My Son had been selected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1999, at its 23rd meeting, under the criteria C (II) as an example displaying the evolution and change in culture, and criteria C (III) as a foremost evidence of Asian civilization now extinct.
History
The construction of My Son has been estimated to have started in the fourth century [1]. Over many centuries, the temple complex had buildings and stupas constructed of varying sizes and became the main cultural vestige of the Champa civilization in Vietnam. Aside from religious celebrations, which allowed the dynastic royals to spiritually connect with the gods, My Son served as a cultural and religious center as well as the burial place of kings and religious leaders. The earliest relics date to the era of the great king Bhadravarman I (Phạm Hồ Đạt) who reigned from 381 C.E. until 413 C.E. He built a hall to worship Linga and Shiva. My Son shows the hallmarks of a strong architectural influence from India, present in the stupas of the temples. That splendor of the past has been fading. The inscriptions on the stele, written in Pali, reveal the cultural influences from India.
Based on other steles, the existence of an original wooden temple in the fourth century has been revealed. More than two centuries later, the temple burned down. In the seventh century, King Sambhuvarman (Phạm Phạn Chi), who reigned from 577 C.E. until 629 C.E., used brick to rebuild the temple, which stands to this day. It may have been moved from Khu Lật to Trà Kiệu at some point. Subsequent kings continued to renovate the older temples and construct more temples to worship gods. Craftsmen used brick and other durable materials to preserve the memory of that civilization. The construction techniques used by the Cham people remain to this day difficult to understand. There still has been no comprehensive explanation as to the raw materials used to stick the bricks together, nor as to how they lifted them into place.
The stupas and tombs range from the seventh to the fourteenth century. The results of tomb exhumations revealed that Cham kings had been buried here since the fourth century. A total of over seventy buildings stand in the complex. The My Son complex may have been the religious and cultural center of the Champa government while the government based in Trà Kiệu or Đồng Dương.
Archaeological studies
After the decline of the Chiêm Thành kingdom, the My Son complex faded into oblivion over the centuries until 1885, when it had been rediscovered. Ten years later, researchers began extensive expeditions to the area. The research activity of French scientists may be separated into two phases:
- 1898-1899: Louis Finot and Lunet de Lajonquière studied the inscriptions on the steles.
- 1901-1902:Henri Parmentier studied the artistry, in 1904 he conducted and exhumation study there.
In 1904, Finot and Parmentier announced the most fundamental details about My Son. The research work of Parmentier revealed sixty eight architectural sites, divided into groups labeled from A, A' to N.
The art researcher F.S. Tern divided the remains of the Champa into seven styles of art by their phases of development. My Son has representation of all the styles, two of which have been theorized to have originated from there. In particular, the A1 temple has been often referred to as the architectural masterpiece of the Cham.
The French archaeologists divided the architectural works at My Son into ten principal groups, A, A', B, C, D, E, F, G, H, K to enable a system of labeling sites by capital letter and number.
Architecture
With regards to the architecture of the temples and tombs at My Son, it is the convegence of a diverse range of styles, from the very historic to the newer variety - My Son E1 and F1 date to the 8th century, while My Son A2, C7 and F3 are similar to the style of Hòa Lai at the turn of the 9th century. The Đồng Dương style of the late 9th century is reflected in Mỹ Sơn A10, A11-13, B4, and B12, the style of Mỹ Sơn A1 of the 10th century is shared by, Mỹ Sơn B5, B6, B7, B9, C1, C2, C5, D1, D2, and D4, while the transitional Mỹ Sơn A1-Bình Định style of the early 11th century to the middle of the 12th century is exhibited in Mỹ Sơn E4, F2, and the K group of sites. The final style of Bình Định (from the end of the 11th century to the start of the 14th) comprises Mỹ Sơn B1 and groups G and H.
The artistic and architectural styelf of the temples can heavy influences from India. The complex consists of a major stupa (kalan) and many smaller stupas which encircle it. The stupas are of conical shape, representing the peak of Meru mountain, the residence of Hindu gods. The gates of the stupa face the East in order to accept the sun's rays. Many stupas exhibit ornate architecture and depictions of gods serenely surrounded by flowers. The majority of these depicitions are now decayed, however there remain a few engravings with traces of gold that the Champa used. Most of the main temples at My Son are devoted to Linga or to a staute of Shiva, the protector of the Champa dynasty. Most devotees in past eras would traverse the stupas in a clockwise direction.
Despite the large influence of Hinduism, representations of Buddhism are also found at My Son, as Mahayana Buddhism had become the foremost religion of the Champa in the 10th century. A few of the temples were constructed in this period, and in the 17th century, some of the temples and stupas were reconstructed or expanded.
The builders at My Son developed their own indigenous styles. One trick they discovered was a way to "glue" bricks together using tree resin native to central Vietnam. The actual method is now lost. It appears that the Champa builders set the resin in place by baking whole monuments in a fire for a few days. Archaeologists believe that the monuments were detailed many weeks later after the structures were thoroughly cooled [2].
Stone Temple
At the My Son complex, there is one temple constructed of stone, the foremost stone temple in Champa civilisation. The stele inscription reveals that the last stone alterations to this temple were made in 1234. Today, this temple is no longer standing, although it once stood at over 30m, the tallest building in the complex. Evidence gathered from the surrounding area show that it was once part of the original temple in the 4th century.
Restoration
The restoration work began in 1937, with the work of French scientists. In the era 1937 to 1938, the A1 temple and smaller ones surrounding it were restored. in later years, from 1939 to 1943, B5, B4, C2, C3, D1, D2 were restored. However, many stupas and tombs (comprising group A and stupa A1, comprising the 24m tall A1 and 6 surrounding stupas, previously in good condition), were destroyed in 1969 in the Vietnam War. The surrounding area is still dangerous due to the threat of unexploded land mines and other relics of war.
The majority of the temple sites in the centre of the complex, such as the B, C and D groups survive, and although many statues, prayer thrones were removed to France or to historical museums in Vietnam, such as in Ho Chi Minh City and the Cham Museum in Da Nang, a temporary museum has been set up in two of the temples with the funding of benefactors from Germany and Poland to display images of the remaining tombs and relics. On March 25 2005, Quang Nam Province held an opening ceremony, displaying the relics of My Son with an area of 5400m2 and a display house of 1000m2 accompanied by a 1km access road built with finance from Japan. however, there remain worries about the architectural construction of the temples, some of which are vulnerable to collapse. From 2002 to 2004, the Ministry of Culture of Vietnam allotted around 440,000 USD to maintain the site. A draft plan of UNESCO was funded by the Government of Italy to the sum of USD 800,000 and the efforts of sponsors from Japan to prevent further degradation. These efforts are also funded by the World Monuments Fund.
See Also
Notes
- ↑ My Son Sanctuary - UNESCO World Heritage Center. Retrieved July 16, 2008.
- ↑ [1] Myson map Index. Retrieved July 16, 2008.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Hammer, Richard. 1970. One morning in the war: the tragedy at Son My. London: Rupert Hart-Davis. OCLC: 221327953.
- Tuan, Tran Huu. 2006. How much for world heritage?: the value of temple preservation in Vietnam. EEPSEA policy brief, no. 2006-PB6. Singapore: Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia. OCLC: 136404112.
- Tuan, Tran Huu. 2006. Valuing the economic benefits of preserving cultural heritage: the My Son Sanctuary World Heritage Site in Vietnam. Singapore: Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia. ISBN 1552502392 9781552502396.
External Links
- My Son photo gallery. Retrieved July 16, 2008.
- My Son. Retrieved July 16, 2008.
- UNESCO decree. Retrieved July 16, 2008.
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