Mỹ Sơn is a group of old and partly broken Shaiva Hindu temples in central Vietnam. These temples were built between the 4th and 13th centuries by the kings of Champa, a kingdom influenced by Indian culture. The temples are used to worship Shiva, who is called "The Auspicious One." In this place, Shiva is also known by other local names, with Bhadreshvara being the most important.

Mỹ Sơn is located in Thu Bồn commune, Da Nang city, central Vietnam. It is 68 kilometers southwest of Da Nang’s city center, 36 kilometers south of Hội An, and about 10 kilometers from the historic Champa capital of Trà Kiệu. The temples are in a valley about two kilometers wide, surrounded by two mountain ranges.

From the 4th to the 13th century, the valley at Mỹ Sơn was a place for religious ceremonies by Champa kings and a burial site for Cham royalty and heroes. It was connected to nearby Cham cities like Indrapura (Đồng Dương) and Simhapura (Trà Kiệu). At one time, the site had more than 70 temples and many stone slabs with important writings in Sanskrit and Cham.

Mỹ Sơn is one of the longest continuously used archaeological sites in mainland Southeast Asia. However, most of its buildings were destroyed during US bombing in one week of the Vietnam War.

The Mỹ Sơn temple complex is considered one of the most important Shaiva Hindu temple groups in Southeast Asia and the most important of this type in Vietnam. It is often compared to other famous temple complexes, such as Borobudur in Indonesia, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Wat Phou in Laos, Bagan in Myanmar, and Prasat Hin Phimai in Thailand. In 1999, UNESCO recognized Mỹ Sơn as a World Heritage Site. UNESCO gave this recognition because it shows how a culture changed over time (criterion C II) and because it provides evidence of an Asian civilization that no longer exists (criterion C III).

History

The more than 70 temples and tombs still standing at Mỹ Sơn were built between the 4th century and the 13th century AD. Evidence suggests that other buildings, now gone, may have existed as early as the 4th century. The site may have been the religious and cultural center of the ancient Champa kingdom, while the government was located nearby in Simhapura or Đồng Dương.

The earliest recorded events at Mỹ Sơn relate to King Bhadravarman I, who ruled from 380 to 413 AD. He fought against Chinese forces in northern Vietnam during his later years. At Mỹ Sơn, he built a hall with a lingam, a symbol of the Hindu god Shiva, named Bhadreśvara. This name combines the king’s name and the word "lord," which is often used for Shiva.

King Bhadravarman had a stone slab, called a stele, placed at Mỹ Sơn to record his achievements. The stele states that he dedicated the entire Mỹ Sơn valley to Bhadreśvara. He urged his successors not to destroy his work, warning that destroying it would transfer his good and bad deeds to them. If they preserved his work, the merit would belong to them. His successors followed his wishes, and Mỹ Sơn became a major religious center for Champa.

The original temples built by Bhadravarman were made mostly of wood. In 535 or 536 AD, a fire destroyed the temple complex during the reign of King Rudravarman I. In the 7th century, King Sambhuvarman, Rudravarman’s son, rebuilt the temple and renamed the god Sambhu-Bhadresvara. He also placed a stele there, describing the god as the creator of the world and the destroyer of sin. The stele praised the king as a leader who brought light to his people.

Unfortunately, Sambhuvarman’s reign was troubled by a major invasion. In 605 AD, Chinese general Liu Fang attacked Champa, captured the capital, and took many treasures, including Buddhist books and gold tablets. The Chinese army later suffered a deadly disease, and Liu Fang died. Sambhuvarman rebuilt his kingdom and sent gifts to the Chinese court to avoid future attacks.

In the early 1900s, French scholars studied Mỹ Sơn and identified a large temple, called "A1," as the work of Sambhuvarman. This temple was severely damaged during the Vietnam War and now lies in ruins.

King Prakasadharma ruled Champa from 653 to about 687 AD. He also used the name Vikrantavarman and expanded Champa’s borders southward. He sent gifts, including tame elephants, to China. Inscriptions link him to Mỹ Sơn and nearby areas like Trà Kiệu and Đồng Dương. He started a tradition of offering decorated metal sleeves, called "kosas," to Shiva. Unlike many Champa kings, he honored both Shiva and Vishnu.

A key stele at Mỹ Sơn, built by Prakasadharma in 657 AD, honors Shiva and helps trace the lineage of Champa’s rulers. The stele claims his ancestors include a Cambodian king named Isanavarman I and traces his heritage to a legendary king from the Kakatiya kingdom and a naga princess named Soma.

Later kings repaired older temples and built new ones. For centuries, temples and shrines were constructed at Mỹ Sơn, making it the religious and cultural heart of the Cham people in central Vietnam. It also served as the burial place for kings and religious leaders.

Most surviving temples, like Isanabhadresvara, were built in the late 10th and 11th centuries by kings Harivarman II and Harivarman IV. Inscriptions from this time are mostly lost. In the 10th century, the Cham capital was at Đồng Dương, but by the end of the century, it moved south to Bình Định Province due to wars with the Viet. Cham kings continued to repair temples at Mỹ Sơn and build new ones. The last known record at Mỹ Sơn is a pillar inscription from King Jaya Indravarman V in 1243 AD. By the early 15th century, the Viet had taken over northern areas, including Mỹ Sơn.

After the Vietnamese emperor Le Thanh Tong conquered central Vietnam, the Champa kingdom became a smaller, dependent region. The Mỹ Sơn complex was abandoned and forgotten. Vietnamese people settled on former Cham lands. The site was rediscovered in 1898 by French scholar Camille Michel Paris. In 1899, the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) began studying Mỹ Sơn’s inscriptions, art, and architecture. Their findings were published in 1904 in the journal Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême Orient.

Between 1937 and 1943, French scholars restored many temples at Mỹ Sơn, including "A1." However, during the Vietnam War, U.S. bombing destroyed parts of the site. The area remains dangerous due to unexploded landmines. Some temples in the center of the complex still stand today, but concerns remain about their structural stability.

Archeology and architecture

All of the remaining buildings at Mỹ Sơn are believed to be religious buildings. They are of the following types:

• A kalan is a brick sanctuary, usually shaped like a tower, used to hold a deity.
• A mandapa is an entryway connected directly to a sanctuary.
• A kosagrha or "fire-house" is a structure with a saddle-shaped roof, used to store valuable items for a deity or to prepare food for a deity.
• A gopura is a gate-tower that leads into a temple complex surrounded by walls.

When Henri Parmentier began studying Mỹ Sơn in 1899, he found the remains of 71 temples. He grouped them into 14 categories, including 10 main groups, each containing multiple temples. To help identify these groups, he labeled each main group with a letter: A, A', B, C, D, E, F, G, H, K. Within each group, he numbered the individual buildings. For example, "My Son E1" refers to the building in group "E" that has the number "1."

Art historians have divided the architectural and artistic achievements of the Champa civilization into seven styles or periods of development. Six of these styles are found at Mỹ Sơn, and two are believed to have started there. These styles are called the Mỹ Sơn E1 Style and the Mỹ Sơn A1 Style. The temple known as "A1" is often called the greatest example of Cham architecture. The six styles of Cham architecture found at Mỹ Sơn are:

• The Mỹ Sơn E1 and F1 Style dates to the 8th century AD. The temple called "E1" is now ruined, but two items from it—the pedestal and tympanum—are displayed in the Museum of Cham Sculpture in Da Nang.
• The style of My Son A2, C7, and F3 is similar to the style found at Hòa Lai from the beginning of the 9th century.
• The Đồng Dương Style of the late 9th century is seen in buildings like Mỹ Sơn A10, A11–13, B4, and B12. This style is named after the Vietnamese town Đồng Dương, which was once the site of the 9th-century city and Buddhist monastery of Indrapura. French scholars in the early 20th century created diagrams of the monastery’s layout. Many sculptures from this style are preserved in Vietnamese museums.
• The Mỹ Sơn A1 Style of the 10th century includes buildings like Mỹ Sơn B5, B6, B7, B9, C1, C2, C5, D1, D2, and D4. This is the most common style at Mỹ Sơn and is known for its beauty. The most famous example of this style, the once-grand tower called "A1," is now mostly ruined. A model of the tower and a drawing of its front view are displayed in the Museum of Cham Sculpture. The storehouse B5 is one of the most well-preserved buildings of this style and shows the unique saddle-shaped roof used in Cham architecture. This style is sometimes called the Tra Kieu Style, named after the nearby town of Trà Kiệu, which may have been the location of the historical Cham city of Simhapura. Many decorations from this style are displayed in the Museum of Cham Sculpture.
• A transitional style from the early 11th century to the middle of the 12th century is seen in buildings like Mỹ Sơn E4, F2, and the K group.
• The Bình Định Style, which became common in Cham architecture from the late 11th century to the early 13th century, is represented in buildings like Mỹ Sơn B1 and the groups G and H.

Most temples at Mỹ Sơn were built using red brick, and only one (the temple labeled "B1") was made of stone. Even the carvings on the temples were cut directly into the bricks, not on separate stone slabs as seen in some Cambodian temples from the 9th century.

Today, the methods used by Cham builders to construct these temples are not fully understood. Some unanswered questions include:

• When were the bricks hardened by fire? Were they hardened before being used in the buildings, or were the buildings assembled first and then heated to harden the bricks? Evidence suggests that the mortar between the bricks was exposed to high heat, which supports the idea that the entire structure was heated after being built. However, no signs of large fires that would be needed to reheat the bricks have been found.
• How were the bricks joined together? One idea is that the builders used tree resin from central Vietnam to glue the bricks. Another idea is that they used a sticky clay similar to the bricks themselves. Chemical tests have found no organic material between the bricks, only minerals like those in the bricks, which supports the second idea. Over time, the mortar has mostly broken down, and even a strong wind can loosen bricks from the structures.
• When were the decorative carvings made? Were the walls built first and then carved, or were the bricks carved before being assembled? Examinations show no broken lines on the carvings, which suggests the carvings were made directly on completed walls.

The people of Champa wrote records in both Sanskrit and old Cham. They wrote on materials that did not last long, like large leaves, and also created stone carvings. They used scripts borrowed from India. None of the writings on leaves have survived, but many stone carvings have been preserved, copied, and translated into modern languages.

Many of Champa’s most important writings are on steles, which are stone slabs or pillars made specifically to hold inscriptions. About 32 steles have been found at Mỹ Sơn, dating from the 5th to the 12th century.

The content of Cham inscriptions is mostly about politics and religion. They are written from the perspective of kings or powerful leaders who wanted to show their power and connection to the gods. Many inscriptions describe gifts to gods, such as land, people, or treasure, or the creation of religious structures like temples, altars, or pedestals. These writings also provide information about the name of the country (usually Campadesa in Sanskrit or nagara Campa in Cham), and the names of important cities: Simhapura ("Lion City"), Virapura ("Knight City"), Rajapura ("King City"), and Vijaya ("Victory"). Some inscriptions also mention historical events, such as wars between Champa and Cambodia in the 12th century