A section of the ancient road during restoration time (Source: VNA)Quang Nam (VNA) – The restoration of a recently-discoveredancient road in the My Son Sanctuary - a UNESCO World Heritage Site in thecentral province of Quang Nam - has been completed.
In April this year, Indian and Vietnamese expertsunexpectedly unearthed an ancient road and its side walls, which began at thefoot of Temple K, also known as Thap Cong (Gate Tower) in My Son. The roadlength remains a mystery. Experts believed that the road may lead to a stagefor religious ceremonies at the sanctuary.
They alsothought that the road was reserved for royal members and religious dignitariesduring the ceremonies.
More than 4,000 bricks taken from the ancientunderground road and some new manually-made bricks were used to re-build thetwo parallel side walls of the road. The walls, which are eight metres apart,are each 0.6m wide and 15m long.
Theexperts have also cleaned the body of Temple K and replaced thedamaged bricks with those excavated around the temple. They also used woodenbars to reinforce the tower to prevent it from falling under the impacts ofweather.
According to Head of the My Son World Heritagesite Management Board Phan Ho, the reinforcementand restoration of Temple K will be resumed in early 2018.
The restoration project has a total cost of morethan 2.7 million USD, of which the Indian government funded 2.3 million USD.
Once the religious and political capital of theChampa Kingdom, My Son Sanctuary is located in a hilly landscape in Duy Phucommune, Duy Xuyen district, about 70 km southwest of Da Nang city and 40 kmfrom Hoi An city.
It comprises eight groups of 71 monument builtthroughout the 7th -13th centuries.
The temples in My Son were built into groupsthat basically followed the same model. Each group was comprised of a mainsanctuary (Kalan), surrounded by towers and auxiliary monuments. The towers,topped with tiled, covered roofs, were stocked with offerings and sacredobjects of the pilgrims. Cham temples do not have windows, so they are verydark inside. Windows are found only in the towers.
Extensive research and restoration work topreserve the Cham architectural heritage has been carrying out since it becamea world heritage site since 1999.-VNA
VNA
