CHAM MUSEUM

Cham art originated at the beginning of our era. Its apogee is considered to have been between the ^8th and ^11th centuries, when Po Nagar and My Son were two powerful capitals.

The Cham people, of Hindu religion, worshipped a particularly rich pantheon. There were three main deities: Brahma the creator, Shiva the destroyer, rebuilder and fertility god, and Vishnu the preserver. As with most Hindu peoples, Cham temples were primarily built in honor of Shiva. The Cham were a warlike people, and the bellicose virility of which the lingam was the attribute was not without galvanizing the expansionist instincts of this society.

The lingam was the most represented symbol in Cham iconography, Shiva's sex signifying a certain firmness, no doubt with regard to life. Not far behind the lingam, Shiva's chest was favored by hammers and chisels, with the yoni settling for a very respectable^3rd place, representing the female sex, i.e. the continuity of life. As their statuary testifies, the Cham have preserved the tales and epics of Hindu mythology. The Mahayana and the Mahâbhârata are often depicted on the bas-reliefs of their temples. Insatiable warriors, the Cham were quick to adopt a religious syncretism as vast and varied as the populations over which they extended their domination. There are numerous representations of Buddha in temples and on palace walls. Between the ^13th and ^15th centuries, an iconography and statuary art developed that became a veritable catalog of all the divinities worshipped in the regions surrounding Champa.

Located in the south-east of the city, not far from the river and the colonial quarter, this museum overlooks a garden where stone figurines, lions, dragons and hokapalas seem to watch over the tranquility of the place. Placed under the aegis of the École française d'Extrême-Orient (formerly the Musée Henri-Parmentier), which set to work in Vietnam in 1915, it is rightly considered, along with the Hanoi museum, to be the finest museum in the country. Some of its collections date back to the ^7th century. Many of the rooms have been reorganized to reflect chronological developments. Two new halls have recently been opened, built at the rear of the museum. Dedicated to the My Son and Dong Duong sites, they offer the most modern presentation.