My Son World Cultural Heritage: A relic captures your hearts

My Son World Cultural Heritage is an essential part of Quang Nam province’s history. It is a significant architectural complex with many different Champa temples. 

A brief look at the My Son World Cultural Heritage

My Son relic site is one of the most famous Cham buildings in Duy Phu commune, Duy Xuyen district, Quang Nam province.

My Son relic was built around the end of the fourth to thirteenth centuries. On April 29, 1979, the Ministry of Culture and Information recognized My Son as an Architectural and Artistic Heritage.

My Son relic is the place to conduct sacrifices and the area of ​​the tombs of kings and members of the royal family of many ancient Champa dynasties.

Every Champa king, who ruled for hundreds of years, made repairs and improvements to the holy place. Because of this, the tẹmples will always have historical value and Champa-style architecture.

The most obvious thing these buildings have in common is that they all have quadrangular base structures. Aside from that, all the temples show a prominent image of Lord Shiva, the Hindu – God of creation and destruction.

In 1999, My Son relic became the first piece of art to be named a World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. On average, more than 300,000 people visit My Son’s World Cultural Heritage each year, up to 70% of whom are from outside of Vietnam.

Prominent architecture of My Son World Cultural Heritage

This place is a complex with over 70 temples built in many different styles, one for each period of the Champa kingdom’s history.

Champa has six different kinds of building styles:

• The ancient style
• Hoa Lai style
• Dong Duong style
• My Son style
• PoNagar style
• Binh Dinh style

Most of the architectural works and sculptures in My Son are mainly influenced by Hinduism.

Many temples and towers face the rising sun, the residence of the gods; only a few buildings rotate to the west or east-west directions.

The architecture represents the thoughts towards the afterlife of the kings after losing their deities. Also, this expresses the Cham’s nostalgia for their ancestors.

Not to mention that the bricks that made the beautiful towers are the most striking thing about My Son’s holy place. Each brick is fired and block cut, then cleverly stacked without adhesive.

The My Son Sanctuary has mostly stayed the same over the years. It has only cracked a negligible percentage due to the wear and tear of time and war.

Stunning places to visit and fun activities to participate in My Son relic

When people go to My Son Sanctuary, they can see a lot of ancient temples and do many other interesting things.

The Kalan Temple

Kalan Temple is a place to worship Linga, commonly known as Lord Shiva – a supreme God according to Hindu beliefs.

The Kalan Temple is one of the most important ancient towers at My Son Sanctuary. It stands 24 meters tall and is surrounded by six smaller towers.

The ancient road

This is an old road that leads to the heritage of the holy land of My Son. An Indian expert found it while digging to fix the Champa towers in the heart of the heritage site.

The ancient road is more comprehensive than eight meters and has two parallel walls.

Visit the monuments museum

About 100m from the ticket counter, there is a museum with artifacts. When people go to My Son Sanctuary and look at the exhibits, they can see old things like bronze drums, ceramic bricks, terracotta, etc.

You can also learn more about architecture, sculpture, My Son’s history, and the ancient Champa culture.

Enjoy the Apsara dance

The Cham people believe that the Apsara dance is done by fairies who serve the gods. It has a lot of soft, seductive movements.

At first, the Apsara dance was only performed in the royal court. After that, as My Son culture spread popularly, the dance became increasingly famous and vital to people’s lives.

Opening hours and ticket prices to visit My Son Sanctuary

Most days of the week, My Son Sanctuary is available from 06:30 a.m. to 05:30 p.m. Here are the fees to get in: Vietnamese guests pay 100,000 VND per person, while foreign guests pay 150,000 VND per person.

Note: The price of a sightseeing ticket includes renting electric cars to go to the ruins of My Son and going to cultural shows.

There are many great places to visit in the central part of Vietnam. Remember to check out the Central region and the My Son relic site whenever you can, you won’t regret choosing this destination.