Simultaneously "save" Cham tower

The architectural ruins of Sang Tower (Dong Duong Buddhist Monastery) are seriously degraded and will be restored in the near future. Photo: QT

Severe degradation

Quang Nam is a land bearing the mark of Champa culture. Up to now, the province still has many unique and outstanding Cham relics such as My Son Temple Complex, Dong Duong Buddhist Institute, Chien Dan Cham Tower, Bang An Cham Tower, Khuong My Cham Tower... Having existed for thousands of years and been affected by many natural and social impacts, most of these relics have now seriously degraded.

Bang An Cham Tower (Dien Ban town), due to its location near a residential area but without any separation or protection measures, the current landscape around the tower is quite messy, the environmental conditions are poor, causing loss of aesthetics, the almost deserted state reduces the value of the tower.

The Chien Dan Cham Towers (Phu Ninh District) have also seriously degraded and are gradually losing their typical decorative details. According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the remaining roofs of the North and Middle Towers of this tower cluster are currently covered by many wild trees, some of which are quite large and threaten the brick structure of the towers. Recently, the towers have continued to be damaged, with more and more crumbling, blistering, and cracked walls appearing...

Meanwhile, at Dong Duong Buddhist Monastery (Thang Binh District), the only image that helps identify this special national relic site is a wall section belonging to the architectural ruins called Sang Tower, which is also seriously degraded. The remaining part of the Sang Tower ruins is being supported by a system of trusses, erected with steel pipes for the purpose of emergency reinforcement and support in 2012.

However, the results of the survey assessing the technical condition of the Sang Tower show that, although it has been supported, the structures of the ruins are clearly deteriorating compared to the state when it was supported. The structural components of the western wall panels are still deteriorating, in a dangerous state, revealing a clear risk of general instability.

Simultaneously "save" the relic

Faced with the serious degradation of the Cham tower system in the province, recently the authorities have been carrying out a number of projects.

The project to preserve, restore, renovate and promote the value of the Bang An Cham tower relic (Dien Ban) with a budget of more than 8.3 billion VND will be implemented in the near future. Photo: QT

Including: Project to preserve, restore and promote the value of the North Tower and the Middle Tower of the Khuong My Cham Tower Relic (completed by the end of 2022); Project to preserve, restore and promote the value of the South Tower of the Chien Dan Cham Tower Relic Site (completed by the end of 2023); Project to preserve, restore and promote the value of the South Tower of the Khuong My Cham Tower Relic Site (under implementation)..., contributing significantly to increasing the resilience of the relic.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hong - Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that there are a number of projects to preserve, restore, and promote the value of relics invested by the department with provincial budget capital, including: North Tower and Middle Tower Project (belonging to Chien Dan Cham Tower); Bang An Cham Tower; Sang Tower (belonging to Dong Duong Buddhist Institute relic) with a total cost of more than 37 billion VND. After receiving the appraisal opinion of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the next steps will be carried out and the projects are expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

The leader of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism added that the restoration will focus on preserving the original elements of the relic, protecting the structures and architectural components during the restoration process. The restoration activities will be supervised by the local community, with regular consultation with historical witnesses, experts, artisans and the community.

At My Son Temple Complex (Duy Xuyen District), over the years, the relevant parties have coordinated to restore and renovate many key projects. For example: The investment project to preserve and urgently restore some items in My Son towers E and F in the national target program; The cooperation project with the American Express organization sponsored through the World Heritage Fund together with the Institute of Archaeology to conduct 2 excavations (in 2002 and 2005) to clear the Khe The stream flowing between area A and area BCD, to prevent landslides in tower group A; The tripartite cooperation project of UNESCO - Vietnam - Italy on "Presentation and training on international standards for the conservation of My Son tower group G" has gone through 3 stages of restoration and embellishment from 2003 to 2013; The E7 tower restoration project; The restoration project cooperates with the Indian Government to renovate towers K, H, A with a funding of more than 64 billion VND (phase 2016 - 2022).

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/dong-loat-cuu-thap-cham-3145162.html