Champa Sculpture Museum - Displaying the Past

Champa Sculpture Museum - Displaying the Past

As early as 1891, French archaeologists moved Champa sculptures from Tra Kieu, Khuong My to Tourane Park (now Da Nang). The park is located near Long Thu pagoda where a museum was later built. Pursuing the work of Charlie Lemire, Camille Paris collected more artefacts from Phong Le and other places in Quang Nam province, increasing the number of exhibits in the park to 100.

The museum was designed by the two architects Delava and Auclair who based the style on a Champa motif: simple and unique. It is now regarded as some of the most beautiful architecture in South East Asia.

In its early days, the museum was named after archaeologist Henry Parmentier who designed and displayed exhibits at the museum. He was also a scientist contributing several researches on Champa arts, which were published in the first decades of the last century.

In 1935, the museum was expanded to house more exhibits discovered by archaeologist J.Y. Claeys in Tra Kieu (Quang Nam) in 1927-1928 and in Mam Tower (Cha Ban citadel - Binh Dinh) in 1934. It was not until 1939 that the museum was officially opened.

At present, the museum has some 450 original sand stone exhibits from the 7^th-15^th centuries displayed in 10 galleries named after the discovery sites: My Son, Tra Lieu, Chanh Lo, Kontum, Dong Duong, Quang Binh, Binh Dinh, Thap Mam. At the museum, visitors can see the development of Champa arts over eight centuries as well as fine arts from South East Asia.

• Ha Phuoc Mai
  Director, Da Nang Champa Museum