Da Nang has a total of 9 national treasures, all of which are preserved and displayed at the Museum of Cham Sculpture.
Over the years, the museum has always made efforts to protect and maximise the value of these national treasures, and at the same time, prepare dossiers to request competent authorities to recognise other artifacts as national treasures in order to meet the public needs of sightseeing.
Tourists admire the Brahma My Son E1 Relief, which has been bestowed Viet Nam's national treasure status, at the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture .
Valuable treasures
The Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture now preserves more than 2,000 artifacts and regularly displays over 400 typical exhibits.
Among them are artifacts bestowed Viet Nam's national treasure status, namely the Tra Kieu, My Son E1 and Dong Duong pedestals, the Tara Bodhisattva Statue, and the Ganesha and Gajasimha statutes.
Notably, each national treasure has its own unique features, thereby contributing to attracting more visitors to the museum.
Many travel agencies open tours to the Museum of Cham Sculpture in order to facilitate visitors to admire the thousand-year-old statues of the legendary Cham culture.
According to statistics from the Office of Education and Communications of the Museum of Cham Sculpture, since 6 artifacts at the museum were recognised as national treasures, the venue has seen an increasing number of visitors.
In particular, the number of visitors to the museum increased from 171,255 to 286,938 between 2011 and 2019, and most of them were international visitors.
Meanwhile, the museum witnessed a significant decline in the number of visitors from 2020-2022 due to the impact of COVID-19.
In 2023 alone, the venue attracted 170,000 domestic and international visitors, up over 257% against 2022.
Among the six national treasures, the Tara Bodhisattva and Ganesha statues have very important values, so they are strictly preserved at the museum.
At the end of last year, Quang Nam Province handed over the snail and the lotus flower of the Tara Bodhisattva statue to the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture after 45 years of wandering. This has demonstrated the constant efforts of the two localities' cultural sectors in joining hands to preserve heritage in particular, and build and develop the two localities in general.
Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Culture and Sports Ha Vy said that the national treasure Tara Bodhisattva Statue is determined to be the most important artifact of the Museum of Cham Sculpture.
The Department continues to direct the museum to implement a plan to promote the value of the Tara Bodhisattva Statue to serve the sightseeing and learning needs of people and tourists, Mr. Vy emphasised.
Additional three national treasures
On January 18, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha signed a decision recognising an additional 29 artifacts as national treasures nationwide.
Among them are three artifacts being preserved and displayed at the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture. They are Brahma My Son E1 Relief dating back to the 7th-8th centuries and originating from My Son, Quang Nam Province; Shiva My Son C1 statue dating back to the 8th century and originating from My Son, Quang Nam Province; and the Tra Kieu Apsara Relief dating back to the 10th century and originating from Tra Kieu, Quang Nam Province.
According to the museum guide, the Tra Kieu Apsara Relief depicts the Apsara, who are described as fairies in Indian mythology and performing a popular dance in Indian dance art. The relief is part of the altar worshiping Tra Kieu dancers and is about 1.15m high and about 3m wide.
The Brahma My Son E1 Relief is a decorative carving on the archway of the My Son E1 tower, and it is brought to the museum in 1935. It features ancient Indian theories of the creation of the universe, a familiar theme in Indian mythology.
The Shiva My Son C1 statue was found in the My Son C1 Tower in 1903. According to researchers, this is a portrait of a God - King, appearing in the late 8th and early 9th centuries, a very rare type of work in Cham sculpture art.
According to Henri Parmentier, who had great contributions in building the Museum of Cham Sculpture, this is the alms-begging image of the God Siva.
However, the Cham people have the custom of worshiping the God – King. It is likely that this is a portrait of the God - King dating back to the late 8th and early 9th centuries, a very rare type of work in Cham sculpture.
With 3 newly recognized nation treasures, the Museum of Cham Sculpture is the only place in the city to preserve and display 9 national treasures. This is a great effort of the museum in preparing documents to request authorities to preserve and promote the value of artifacts, meeting the increasing needs of people and tourists.
Deputy Director of the Museum of Cham Sculpture Tran Dinh Ha said that it was very honoured for the museum to have 9 national treasures in total.
He affirmed that the museum had many artifacts that meet the criteria to be national treasures. In the coming time, the unit will continue to research and prepare dossiers to propose to competent authorities to consider and recognise other artifacts as national treasures.
Moreover, special attention will be paid to promoting and introducing these national treasures in particular and artifacts at the museum in general to the public, Mr. Ha added.
Reporting by Khoi Nguyen - Translating by M.Dung
