Po Klong Garai Tower, the pinnacle of architectural art of the Cham people in Ninh Thuan

Video: Admire the pinnacle of architectural art at Po Klong Garai Tower, Ninh Thuan

Poklong Garai Tower is located on Trau Hill, Do Vinh Ward, Phan Rang - Thap Cham City, Ninh Thuan. The tower was built in the late 13th century and early 14th century by King Che Man - the King who married Princess Huyen Tran, daughter of King Tran Nhan Tong.

This work has reached the peak of architecture, art and sculpture to worship the great king Po Klong Garai (1151-1205), the king who had many great achievements in governing the country, especially in building the irrigation system for the whole region.

Po Klong Garai Tower is a complex of three towers: the central KaLan tower (20.5m high), the Gopura gate tower (8.56m high) and the fire tower (9.31m high). The auxiliary items of the Po Klong Garai tower relic site include: yard, garden, fence, internal road, gate, tourism - cultural works, shrine, architectural ruins...

Having gone through many historical events and the ravages of time, this relic still retains intact artifacts and traditional values ​​in Cham culture.

The Po Klong Garai tower relic currently has 1 Linga Yoni statue; 1 Nandin bull statue; 2 inscriptions carved on the tower door, a 3-sided stone stele with writing; 1 stele without writing; 1 statue of Queen Kut and 1 stone pillar (Linga) outside the southern wall of the relic complex. In addition, there are a number of artifacts that originally belonged to the relic that are being preserved and displayed by the Ninh Thuan Provincial Museum.

This architectural and artistic relic was ranked as a national monument by the Ministry of Culture in 1979 and ranked as a special national monument with unique architectural and artistic value by the Prime Minister on December 22, 2016.

According to the caretakers and managers of the three towers, this is the place associated with the traditional beliefs of the Cham people and all major Cham festivals are held here.

Every year, the Cham people have 4 major festivals, of which the most unique, largest and most crowded is the Kate festival, held in the 7th month of the Cham calendar (September and October of the solar calendar) to commemorate heroic kings and ancestors.

According to Cham historical records, in the year of the Ox (Cham calendar), King Po Klong Garai from Balcribanoi entered Panduranga to survey the terrain to build a tower to commemorate his humble beginnings. When he arrived at the Balhul region, he was stopped by the Khmer general Hakral who was in charge of this region. King Po Klong Garai did not want to cause unnecessary bloodshed, so he challenged the Khmer general to compete in building a tower; whoever finished first would win. King Po Klong Garai built the tower on Balhla hill, while General Hakral built it in the Balhul region. In the end, King Po Klong Garai's side, with their intelligence, finished first, and General Hakral lost and had to withdraw his troops.

Source: https://vtc.vn/thap-po-klong-garai-nghe-thuat-kien-truc-dinh-cao-cua-nguoi-cham-ninh-thuan-ar839210.html