Cham Museum

Even if you’re just passing throughDa Nang, try to spare some time to pay a visit toChamMuseum, since the museum makes it much easier for you to learn about the mysterious yet interesting ancient culture of Cham Pa Dynasty without having to visit several locations thorough the country.

Designed by two French architects,ChamMuseum was constructed in the ancient Champa architecture style, in imitation of the most commonly used aspects of Champa towers and temples, and it was completed in 1916. As its collection increased it was enlarged in 1936 before being officially opened to the public in 1939.

Nowadays, the museum exhibits approximately 300 sandstone and terra-cotta sculptures, dating from the 7th to the 15th centuries. These pieces of arts were founded in the Champa temples and towers thorough centralVietnam, where the most important legacy of the Champa kingdom is located in. The artifacts displayed at the museum are altars, statues and decorative works. All the sculptures are displayed in ten showrooms arranged according to their era and district in which the pieces were discovered. Besides viewing the relics in the showrooms, tourists can also visit exterior exhibitions. The arts of the Champa were chiefly sculpture, but the sculptures are only part of the religious architecture. The temples and towers themselves are considered to be sculptural artifacts. They are decorated on the exterior of their brick walls with bas-relief columns, flowers and leaves and worshipping figures between brick pillars.

Visitors to the museum will have the opportunity to feel an artistically inspired culture that ruled most of southernVietnamfor a thousand years.