Discovered a thousand-year-old Cham temple complex

On 11/12, Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture organized the results of excavation of the temple of Champa Tower (Hoa Phong Commune, Hoa Vang, Da Nang). This is the second Cham temple tower discovered and excavated after the temple of Phong Le village was excavated.

The research results have identified almost the entire scale, ground and structure of the architectural foundation of Champa tower in the area called Cam Mit (in Cam Toi Dong village, Hoa Phong commune, Hoa Vang, Da Nang). ).

Previously, thanks to the notice of the staff of the Museum of Cham Sculpture in Da Nang and the local people about the discovery of some artifacts of Champa culture here.

In June 2012, the National Museum of History and the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture conducted a survey of this place. Thereby, determine the place that once existed a relic of Champa tower temple.

From September 2012, the two sides have cooperated and excavated with an area of ​​over 500m2 in Cam Mit area. Thereby bringing it out of the underground Cam Cam many types of artifacts worth art, research and many other valuable information.

Cam Mit relic is an architectural complex distributed on a low mound, about 1ha wide, surrounded by ancient alluvial grounds accreted by two rivers of Tuy Loan and Yen rivers. The relic is planned to consist of three horizontal temples along the North-South axis, facing the East (5 degrees south of the South), in front of the gate tower (possibly the Fire Tower in the southeast and the beer house in the Northeast ). The whole is arranged in an area with a walled system, the outside is a long house located on the axis with the gate tower and the middle tower.

Through excavation results, it is possible to identify the date of the monument quite specifically. Thap Giua was built first with the east road system connected to the gate tower and turned to the sides, surrounded by a system of walls, built in the 10th century to the 11th century.

Besides, the presence of pottery jar and some ceramic artifacts dating from the 13th century to the beginning of the fourteenth century showed that the Nam tower and the North tower were also built around this time. This is the period of the middle tower, degraded gate tower, damaged walls needing repair and restoration.

The three main towers all have square or nearly square planes, in which the Middle tower is built early and has the largest scale, the North and South towers are added later and smaller. The main doors of the towers all open to the east with a larger size and size than the fake doors on the other sides. The tower gate with a rectangular plan, opened two doors in the east-west direction, was renovated and moved eastward closer to the long house. Enclosures also change to suit the construction of new structures.

Materials involved in building architecture are mainly bricks, tiles and stones. However, the absence of roofing tiles in the long house area allows us to think about the possibility of long house architecture with wooden frames, bamboo-covered bamboo or thatched roofs.

The foundation has been linked with high adhesion additives such as the use of vegetable resins and clay mixed with young bricks, weathered laterite gravel or sand. The wall of the tower still follows the general technique of Cham residents, which is a brick-lined structure with two sides of a plant resin, while there are broken bricks and clay and sand in the heart. At the same time, the pillars of the walls, pillars and doors . use the grinding technique to create a plane for carving the pattern directly on the brick wall.

Some artifacts were excavated from the Cam Mit ruins

The themes of decoration are not rich or incomplete in terms of artifacts, so the aesthetics are not high, mainly the image of Garuda, the fire, the title, . basically still the rough and floating style . Sculptures on bricks still dominate, this is clearly recorded through chisels, chisels, carved directly on the tiles to create decorative arches, pillars and pyramids . Poorness of sculptures carving, the absence of stone statues shows that this is a temple temple with local elements and styles, where the border between the lowland and the reverse domain.

According to experts, the Cam Mit relic is one of the rare Cham tower ruins to clarify the ground of all 3 main towers and the gate tower and the long house. The perfection of the layout, scale, structure of the relic site shows that this is a relic of a very important position in the mind of Champa people at that time. In addition to the function of temple towers worshiping the gods, the appearance of glaze pottery and burial items here may also play the role of the tomb tower.

Mr. Vo Van Thang - Director of Da Nang Cham Sculpture Conservation Center said: 'With the excavation of Cam Mit relic, the first time archaeological Champa Da Nang had the opportunity to thoroughly study the structure of Cham tower. , for digging to the ground '.

According to Mr. Thang, the eternal problem is still how to preserve and promote the value of this monument. The immediate plan of archaeological researchers is to keep the relics in the ground, leveling and returning the ground to the people, when conditions permit, they will continue to excavate.

However, we must first complete the drawing of the temple temple and bring the excavated artifacts to preservation at the Danang Sculpture Museum. It is expected that in the coming time, the National Museum of History and the Museum of Cham Sculpture in Da Nang will coordinate the implementation of a larger-scale project.