The ancient and mysterious beauty of My Son Sanctuary

This was once a site for religious ceremonies as well as a burial ground for kings, officials, and royal family members of the ancient Champa dynasties. In 1999, the My Son Sanctuary was recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage site.

My Son Sanctuary has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage site.

Through inscriptions and historical records from many ancient dynasties, My Son was the most important sacred site of the Cham people from the late 4th to the 15th centuries. With more than 70 brick and stone architectural structures, built from the 7th to the 13th centuries, My Son became the most important architectural center of the Champa Kingdom.

The main temples at My Son enshrine a Linga or image of the god Shiva – the protector of the Champa royal dynasties. The deity worshipped at My Son is Bhadrésvara, the king who founded the first royal dynasty of the Amaravati region in the late 4th century. Combined with the name of the god Shiva, this became the main belief system worshipping the god-king and royal ancestors.

Each historical period has its own architectural style, and each temple tower is dedicated to different gods and dynasties, creating distinctive architectural features. However, generally speaking, Cham towers are built on a quadrilateral base, divided into three parts: the base representing the earthly world, solid and stable; the body of the tower symbolizing the divine world, mysterious and enchanting; and the top part depicting figures offering flowers and fruits according to ritual, or images of trees, leaves, birds, elephants, lions, and other animals closely associated with religion and human life.

At My Son Sanctuary, the tower complexes all follow a similar pattern: In the center is a temple, called a kalan, opposite which are two gate towers (Gopura) facing east and west. In front of the gate towers is a long house, a place for receiving offerings and welcoming pilgrims, with a long, slender roof called a mandapa. The mandapa has many windows and two main doors that are always open, facing east and west. In the corridor, pilgrims perform rituals of cleansing themselves of worldly dust and praying before entering the kalan to perform the ceremonies.

The ancient Cham people were revered as "Masters of the art of bricklaying," and the construction techniques of their temples and towers remain shrouded in mystery. Without using any conventional binders, the bricks appeared to be precisely fitted together, stacked in a solid, monolithic manner.

The value of the relics at My Son is also reflected in the art of sculpture and relief carving on bricks and stones, with vivid images of gods, monks, dancers, flowers, animals, and sacrificial objects... Although time and war have turned many tower complexes into ruins, the remaining sculptures and architectural artifacts still bear the imprint of the artistic styles of the Cham people, masterpieces marking a glorious era of Cham architectural culture as well as of Southeast Asia.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/ve-dep-hoai-co-va-bi-an-cua-thanh-dia-my-son-100429.html