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NHK World Heritage 100 Series (en anglais)

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NHK World Heritage 100 Series (en anglais)
World Heritage Properties
Description

Texte narratif (en anglais)

Tran Ky Phuong visited here for the first time in 1978. My Son, surrounded by mountains on all four sides, was holy ground for the Champa Kingdom which prospered from the 7th to the 13th century. Tran Ky Phuang was a member of a research team sent by the government to survey the level of war damage at the site. The Champa Kingdom dominated the central region of Vietnam and successive kings built many religious structures here. It was Hindu and greatly influenced by their trading partner India. Successive Kings of the Champa Kingdom built over 70 towers here.

Here Kings spoke to God and prayed. This is where the statue of Shiva originally stood. It is kept in the museum and is now shaped as a King. King and God were united in this way.

(Voiceover)

"This is a sacred bull called Nandin, the guardian of the sanctuary." "c.and this part was damaged by bullets during the Vietnam War."

My Son became a battlefield and a target of air strikes. Many towers were demolished during an air raid in August 1969. This used to be the tallest. It was 28-meters high. 9 people were killed and 11 people were injured during landmine removal activity, before the visit of the inspection team after the war. 30 years has passed since then.

The towers at this heritage site were decorated with countless carved statues. This carving of a woman is one of the few remaining. It is called "a woman praying". These carvings tell us how people used to live. Here a person is giving a massage.

The Champa Kingdom was founded by the Cham people from Indonesia. They love music and dance. Cham descendants of the Champa Kingdom here play a tune called "a village festival". War is not alone destroying ancient monuments; the biggest enemy is Time. It is important that those alive today should try to keep ancient history alive and not bury it away.

Author:
NHK
Size available:
500 pixels width
Language: Français fr
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