Da Nang: Connecting "forgotten" ancient towers into attractive tourist destinations

Da Nang City is not only famous for My Son Sanctuary ( World Cultural Heritage), Cham Museum which preserves many artifacts and National Treasures related to Cham culture, but also has ancient Cham towers thousands of years old that still exist today such as: Khuong My Tower Cluster, Chien Dan and Bang An Tower.

However, these ancient towers seem to be "forgotten" and have not been connected to become attractive tourist destinations.

Timeless "treasure"

During a motorbike trip along National Highway 1A in the Central region, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh (Quang Ninh province) chose a roadside stop at Chien Dan tower, in Tay Ho commune, Da Nang city.

The first time he set foot in this Cham temple area, Mr. Binh was very curious about the three mossy ancient towers, built with baked bricks that had discolored over time without seeing the usual adhesives like today.

Around the foot of the tower there are still sandstone reliefs depicting dancers performing traditional dances of the ancient Cham people.

In the mysterious space of these three ancient towers, there are many archaeological artifacts made of stone, which are being displayed outdoors such as: Steles engraved with ancient Sanskrit inscriptions, Linga and Yoni altars, some mascot statues...

Chien Dan Tower has three towers including the South Tower, the Middle Tower and the North Tower with important sculptures of Champa art in the 11th-12th century. (Photo: Do Truong/VNA)

“For a free traveler like me, accidentally discovering an ancient Cham tower relic site, with many sophisticated sculptures, located right next to National Highway 1A, is a very interesting thing. However, at this relic site, there are no tour guides or QR codes for information, so casual visitors like me have little chance to learn deeply about the history and culture of this cluster of temples and towers in a short time,” Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh regretfully shared.

According to researchers, Chien Dan tower has 3 towers: South tower, Middle tower and North tower, of which Middle tower is the largest.

Through excavated artifacts, it is shown that these are important sculptures of Cham art in the 11th-12th century.

About 10km south of Chien Dan tower, in Tam Xuan commune, Da Nang city, there is Khuong My tower with 3 towers: Nam tower, Trung tower and Bac tower, of which Nam tower is the tallest. This is considered a group of Cham towers that still exists quite intact to this day.

According to researchers, the South Tower worships the god Vishnu, the Middle Tower worships the god Shiva, and the North Tower worships the god Bhrama. Recent excavations have confirmed the group of towers' date to the early 10th century.

Notably, the excavation of the base of the South Tower conducted in 2000 revealed the decoration of the tower base consisting of 10 stone sculptures arranged according to the tower body plan and about 1-1.5m from the tower base wall. These works depict many different themes such as: standing monkeys, altars, Naga snake heads, mother monkeys holding their babies, monkeys playing musical instruments...

Sandstone reliefs depicting dancers performing traditional Cham dances at the Chien Dan tower area. (Photo: Do Truong/VNA)

In addition, scientists also found fragments of a stone slab shaped like a Bodhi leaf, possibly a decorative panel for a door arch, and two stone slabs carved with scenes of royal life or festivals.

Located closer to the center of Da Nang city, Bang An tower in An Thang ward dates back to around the 11th century, is one of the oldest surviving Cham towers with unique architecture.

Bang An Tower has an architectural style that is completely different from other Cham towers in the Central region of Vietnam. The most unique feature is the octagonal structure of the main tower, which is not found in any other remaining Cham towers.

Overall, the tower bears the image of Linga (a symbol of male genitalia), associated with the religious beliefs of the Cham people. In front of the main gate of the tower, there are two Gajasimha (lion and elephant statues) made of sandstone, playing the role of guardian gods protecting the tower.

Bang An Tower, with its Linga image dating back to around the 11th century, is one of the oldest surviving Cham towers with unique architecture, completely different from other Cham tower clusters in the central strip of Vietnam. (Photo: Do Truong/VNA)

Bang An Tower was built mainly to worship Shiva, the supreme god in Cham beliefs.

According to Dr. Ha Thi Suong, Quang Nam Monuments and Museum Management Board, each ancient Cham tower above has its own characteristics and story about history, architecture and art.

With Bang An tower, it is a story of “uniqueness,” this is the only remaining Cham tower in Vietnam with octagonal architecture.

With Khuong My tower, it is the story of a “transitional art style,” representing a distinct art style, located between the Dong Duong and My Son A1 periods.

The most unique feature is the skillful combination technique between brick and stone, where the brick is built tightly together with the stone into a unified block and then carved and decorated.

Khuong My Tower dates back to the early 10th century and is considered a group of Cham towers that still remain relatively intact today. (Photo: Do Truong/VNA)

Archaeological excavations have revealed a very unique pedestal decoration system, with the main theme being monkeys and Naga snakes. The images of monkeys in all postures evoke the legend of the monkey king Hanuman, thereby reinforcing the belief that the South Tower worships the god Vishnu.

Dr. Ha Thi Suong added that with Chien Dan tower, it is the story of a “living sculpture museum in place.” These works have shaped the “Chien Dan style,” showing a clear artistic transformation from the late 10th century to the early 12th century, with features similar to the later Mam tower style (Gia Lai province).

The reliefs of dancing girls, sword-wielding warriors, elephants walking one after another, or the arch depicting the Goddess killing the buffalo-headed demon... are all vivid masterpieces, testament to a period of brilliant artistic development.

Cham Cultural Heritage Route

The towers of Khuong My, Chien Dan and Bang An have all been recognized as national monuments. In recent years, the former Quang Nam province has allocated resources to carry out projects to preserve, repair and restore these Cham towers, in order to prevent degradation and at the same time hope to create a premise for tourism exploitation and development.

Currently, projects to restore and embellish these towers are still being implemented. However, according to experts, to attract tourists to these relic sites, Da Nang city needs to have synchronous and drastic solutions, especially resources to invest in service infrastructure to welcome visitors.

According to the interim Chairman of the Da Nang City Tourism Association, Cao Tri Dung, the Cham cultural relics in the city are very prominent, clearly representing the Cham culture, especially in the field of sculpture.

With the administrative boundaries of Da Nang city, Cham cultural resources are very rich, there is a great opportunity to connect and develop into tourism tours when managed in a unified administrative manner. This is a favorable condition for travel businesses to exploit new destinations, mobilize social resources to introduce products, and position the market of customers who are interested in and want to learn more about Cham culture.

Mr. Dung shared that the Khuong My and Chien Dan tower clusters are separate relic sites, the infrastructure is not yet synchronously connected, so tourism exploitation is not effective, mainly attracting historical and archaeological researchers.

The condition for forming a tourist route is that the product must be different, that is, there must be attractive historical stories about the destination, and infrastructure and accompanying services must be invested in.

Many experts say that the Khuong My, Chien Dan and Bang An towers have not been exploited commensurate with their potential, especially in connection with the "locomotives" such as the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture and My Son Sanctuary.

According to Dr. Ha Thi Suong, the tourism industry of Da Nang city needs to develop a general promotion program for tours, tourist routes, and connecting routes from museums to relics, creating a branded "heritage route".

Many valuable artifacts found during excavations are on display at the Chien Dan tower area. (Photo: Do Truong/VNA)

The starting point should be the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture, which provides background and background knowledge. Visitors will be introduced to the entire journey and the significance of the towers they are about to visit.

Along with that, managers need to digitize the entire “heritage road” on a common application to have a comprehensive overview; provide information, maps, multilingual automatic explanations and especially augmented reality (AR) technology. Visitors only need to scan their phone on a ruin to see a 3D image of the intact tower appear.

At the same time, Dr. Ha Thi Suong said that the authorities need to build a relic management system, an interconnected ticket system, sell ticket packages that allow visitors to visit many locations on the axis at preferential prices, encouraging visitors to fully explore.

At these Cham tower relic sites, the city needs to invest in minimum infrastructure such as: Upgrading access roads, building parking areas, toilets, standard bilingual signs, and building exhibition spaces at each site.

In addition, the city's tourism industry needs to encourage travel companies to build and sell tours along this new route; organize joint promotional campaigns at domestic and international tourism fairs, invite KOLs and travel bloggers to experience and spread the story of this thousand-year-old Cham cultural heritage route.

“The “awakening” of the Cham towers of Khuong My, Chien Dan, and Bang An is not only about preserving heritage, but also a smart tourism development strategy. By stringing together the thousand-year-old towers into an attractive cultural journey, taking the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture as the starting point and the My Son World Cultural Heritage as the highlight, it will not only enrich the city’s tourism products, but also help distribute the flow of visitors, reduce pressure on familiar destinations, and bring sustainable economic benefits to the local community. This is a direction that is completely consistent with the development vision of a modern, creative and historical-valuable Da Nang city,” said Dr. Ha Thi Suong./.

(Vietnam News Agency/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/da-nang-ket-noi-nhung-ngon-thap-co-bi-bo-quen-thanh-cac-diem-du-lich-hap-dan-post1052475.vnp