[Article] Arts of Ancient Viet Nam.

By Louise Roug | Los Angeles Times | February 21, 2010

The expansive exhibition of artifacts from the land's historical cultures is on view at the Asia Society in New York.

Reporting from New York - "Arts of Ancient Viet Nam," the most ambitious exhibition of Vietnamese art yet to appear in the United States, is a show about meetings.
In room after room, magnificent objects on display tell a story about people -- how we encounter one another and change in the process.
That such meetings are sometimes bloody was an inescapable issue for the organizers of the show, on view at the Asia Society in New York.
For decades, Vietnam existed in the American mind not so much as a geographical place with its own history but rather, singularly, as a synonym for conflict.
And it was this association -- as Asia Society Director Vishakha Desai put it: "that Vietnam means war" -- that organizers wanted to challenge. "We wanted to create a new story," Desai said. Given the interwoven history of America and Vietnam, it is a point delicately made.
For one thing, Nancy Tingley, the show's heroically stubborn curator who worked more than 20 years to realize "Arts of Ancient Viet Nam," has mounted an exhibition that looks at a time well before the Battle of Hue, the massacre at My Lai and the fall of Saigon. This is a historical show that examines another kind of meeting between people: one built on trade and commerce.
One reason it took so long for the exhibition to be realized was that before 2003 Vietnam didn't have a law that would allow for the lending of museum objects. But the Vietnamese government eventually threw its support behind the exhibition and 10 museums in Vietnam have contributed objects, including the Museum of Vietnamese History in Ho Chi Minh City.
Another obstacle was the lack of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States until 1995. "Politics got in the way (...)


Read the full article here.

Photo : Garuda with Naga. Champa period, late 12th-13th century. Thap Mam site, Binh Dinh Province Stone (National Museum of Vietnamese History).

Photogallery.

Conférence: New Light on the Ancient Records of Campa (Vietnam)

26 Feb 2010

Friday |  7pm-8.30pm |  @ Ngee Ann Auditorium, ACM Empress Place (Basement)

This lecture presents recent developments in the study of the written records of the ancient Campa kingdom(s), which lay in what is now central and southern Vietnam. The study of Campa epigraphy, which once flourished in French colonial times, has all but died out after World War II and has only recently been revived. Newly discovered inscriptions have started to be published. A census of Campa inscriptions was undertaken in September–October 2009 in museums and archaeological sites of Vietnam. The aim of the census was to up-date the general inventory of Campa inscriptions, whose last published instalment dates to 1942, and to record essential data of previously known and newly discovered epigraphical documents. The presentation will discuss some new inscriptions, which throw new light on the history of Campa and its place within the larger scale development of Southeast Asian history.

Speaker Biography
Arlo Griffiths holds a PhD in Sanskrit from Leiden University. After holding a position as lecturer in Indian Religions at the University of Groningen (the Netherlands), and holding the chair of Sanskrit at Leiden University, he joined the French School of Asian Studies (EFEO) in 2008 as Professor of Southeast Asian history. His main fields of interest are Hindu religious/ritual literature in Sanskrit, on the one hand, and inscriptions of Southeast Asia in Sanskrit and vernacular languages, on the other. His approach to the (ancient) history of Southeast Asia is primarily epigraphic, and he is currently involved in projects concerning the inscriptions of ancient Cambodia, ancient Indonesia, and Campa.

Due to limited seating, registration is required. Please R.S.V.P to nhb_acm_rpu@nhb.gov.sg by 25 February 2010, Thursday.
Successful registrants will be notified by email.

This talk is free of charge. Admission charges apply only if guests wish to visit the museum’s galleries. Light refreshments will be served before the lecture.

This lecture is jointly organised by the Research and Publication Unit of ACM and Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, ISEAS.

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Cham Sculpture Museum’s website unveiled [VNNet]

VietNamNet Bridge |  21/01/2009 – The website of the Da Nang-based Cham Sculpture Museum was launched last week, opening a new door for this unique museum to reach out to the world.
The website officially came out on January 15 at www.chammuseum.danang.vn, in Vietnamese and English. This is one of several websites opened by museums in Vietnam.
The site offers useful information about the Cham Sculpture Museum, including the history of Cham culture, collections, documents and others. The museum aims to turn this site into an online forum about Cham culture.
The museum was built by the French in the central city of Da Nang in the early 20th century. It has more than 3,000 objects collected from central provinces.
Most of the items displayed at the museum are originals made of three major materials – sandstone, terra-cotta and bronze – from the 7th to the 14th centuries.
The museum welcomed around 170,000 visitors last year, earning VND5 billion.

 

Writer: Hai Chau

Da Nang museum grows into centrepiece of Cham culture [Viet Nam Net]

22/01/2010

VietNamNet Bridge – The Champa Museum, located by the Han River in downtown Da Nang, is one of the most popular destinations for foreign tourists to the central city.
Built in 1915 it houses nearly 2,000 sculptures made by the Indian-influenced Cham civilisation that flourished in Viet Nam between the 6th and 18th centuries, with 475 on display inside and in the garden and the rest in its vaults.
There are some terracotta and bronze sculptures but most are made of sandstone and cover a gamut of styles. They mostly date back to the 12th to 15th centuries.
The artefacts were found in the central region between Quang Binh and Binh Thuan provinces. They are displayed in 10 halls named after the localities where they were discovered – like My Son, Tra Kieu, and Dong Duong.

History

According to its director, Vo Van Thang, the Champa Museum’s first building was opened only in 1919 but many Cham artefacts had been collected and brought to the site over the preceding 20 years.
The collection was begun by French archaeologists and experts from the L’ecole Francaise d’Extreme Orient (the Far East Archaeological Research Institute) in Ha Noi.
Thang said the establishment of a Cham sculpture museum in Da Nang was first proposed in 1902 by the EFEO’s Department of Archaeology. Henri Parmentier, a prominent archaeologist in the department, made a great contribution to the campaign for its construction.
The first building was designed by French architects. The museum has been expanded twice since then, but the character of the original architecture has been preserved.
The museum is being managed by the Da Nang Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Thang said the museum has sent its exhibits to a number of exhibitions abroad. In 2003 it sent two artefacts to an art and history museum in Brussels, Belgium, and the Museum of Ethnology in Vienna, Austria.
In October 2005 it lent 48 objects to an exhibition titled Viet Nam Art Treasure: Champa Sculpture at the Guimet Museum in Paris.
Recently in the US, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and the Asia Society, New York, held an unprecedented exhibition of art from ancient Viet Nam called Ancient Vietnam: From River Plain to Open Sea, introducing new scholarship on the history of Vietnamese art.
The exhibition was held from September 2009 to January 3 this year at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Around 110 objects from the first millennium BC through the 17th century, on loan from leading Vietnamese museums, including the Champa Museum, were on display at this exhibition.
"These exhibitions helped make ancient Viet Nam’s arts better known around the world," Thang said.
However, the global economic turmoil has resulted in a decrease in the number of visitors to the museum.
Thang said the figure dropped from 190,000 in 2008 to 150,000 last year, with around 110,000 of them being foreigners.
"Very interesting and educational – most instructive," said Shyllist Roy, a British tourist who came to the museum early last year.
Anggoon Saiboot, a Thai visitor, said: "I’ve come from Thailand to visit the museum. I think I am very lucky and happy."
After visiting the museum in February 2008, Singapore’s President S. R. Nathan wrote in the visitors’ book: "A rare display of ancient Hindu statues – well displayed for visitors to admire and appreciate a bygone civilisation in Viet Nam."
The entrance fee to the museum on September 2 Street is VND30,000 for an adult and VND5,000 for a child. High-school students can enter for free.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Champa altar house to be displayed at New York Museum (SGGP)

Bệ thờ cổ Vân Trạch Hòa dự triển lãm Bảo tàng New York
SGGP, Chủ nhật, 17/01/2010, 02:25 (GMT+7)

(SGGP).- Bảo tàng Lịch sử và Cách mạng tỉnh Thừa Thiên-Huế vừa cho biết, cổ vật Bệ thờ Vân Trạch Hòa (ảnh) đã được Hội Châu Á-Hoa Kỳ chọn tham gia triển lãm tại Bảo tàng New York từ ngày 2-2 – 2-5-2010.
Bệ thờ này được tìm thấy năm 1991 tại khu di tích đền tháp Vân Trạch Hòa, địa bàn xóm Cồn Chùa, thôn Vân Trạch Hòa, xã Phong Thu, huyện Phong Điền (Thừa Thiên-Huế). Bệ được làm bằng đá, có hai tầng chồng khít lên nhau bằng mộng khớp giá lắp. Bốn mặt của hai tầng bệ thờ đều có chạm khắc các họa tiết trong đạo Hindu (Ấn Độ giáo).
Căn cứ vào các họa tiết chuyên gia về cổ vật xác định bệ thờ Vân Trạch Hòa có niên đại từ thế kỷ thứ IX - X. Đây là bệ thờ cổ độc đáo của người Chăm được tìm thấy ở Thừa Thiên-Huế.
Cùng với bệ thờ Vân Trạch Hòa, có 113 cổ vật tiêu biểu cả ba miền Bắc, Trung, Nam của Việt Nam do Hội Châu Á-Hoa Kỳ chọn thuê từ 10 bảo tàng lớn trong cả nước trưng bày giới thiệu tại cuộc triển lãm ở Bảo tàng New York.

PH.LÊ

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Champa altar house to be displayed at New York Museum

SGGP English Edition, Sunday ,Jan 17,2010.

The antique Van Trach Hoa altar house has been chosen for display at the New York Museum in New York, the US, from February 2 to May 2, said a representative of the History and Revolution Museum of Thua Thien Hue Province.

 The antique Van Trach Hoa altar house was found in Thua Thien Hue Province in 1991. (Photo: SGGP)

The altar house was found in 1991 at Van Trach Hoa temple, Phong Thu commune, Phong Dien district.

The two-level antique is made from stone with Hindu carvings on each of its four sides.

According to an expert, the alter house dates from the 9th-10th century and was made by the Champa ethnic minority.

Along with the Van Trach Hoa altar house, 113 other antiques from the north, central and southern regions have been chosen for display at the New York Museum.

By Ph.Le, translated by Y Nhi

VietNamNet Bridge - HCMC museum opens Oc Eo/Champa culture exhibits

VietNamNet Bridge 13 january 2010 - The Museum of Vietnamese History in HCM City yesterday, January 12, opened two permanent exhibits of the Oc Eo and Champa cultures.

On display are 439 ancient artefacts and sculptures made of gold, silver, copper, gems, pottery, wood, and sandstone.
The Oc Eo exhibition features remnants of tools, vases, and statues of Gods made of earth during the Oc Eo culture (between the first and sixth centuries) which were found in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, mostly in An Giang Province.
They reveal close the delta people's trading relations with India.
The Champa exhibit has artefacts made of copper in the seventh and ninth centuries and provides an overview of Cham art until the 15th century.
The collection, along with those at the Da Nang Cham Sculpture Museum and the Museum of Vietnamese History in Ha Noi are some of the biggest collections of Champa artefacts in the world.
The two exhibits are part of a five-year Promoting Viet Nam's Museum Heritages project undertaken by Viet Nam and France.
Besides promoting the country's historical and cultural heritages, the project will also train Vietnamese officials in museum design, organisation, and management.
France is helping modernise five museums - the Museum of Ethnology in Ha Noi, Dac Lac Museum, Da Nang Cham Sculpture Museum, and the War Remnants Museum and Museum of Vietnamese History in HCM City.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Exploring Cham culture (VietNamNet Bridge) - 06/01/2010

                Looking at a visitor concentrating on a sculpture, I set aside my intention to make her acquaintance and ask her feelings about the Cham Sculpture Museum, which stands silently facing the Han River in the central coast city of Danang. Like the others, she stopped for a long time at every Cham sculpture to read the historical notes. I understood that was not a time for talk as she was indulged in the world of Cham sculpture.

An artful Cham sculpture.

Not seen as a cradle of Cham culture, Danang is known with a Cham museum built in 1915 and housing some 2,000 artful Cham sculptures that were made of sandstone, terra-cotta and copper from the seventh to the fifteenth centuries. Those works are organized by location, such as My Son, Tra Kieu and Dong Duong, to make it easy for visitors to identify the provinces with Cham communities.
Walking through the corridors and display rooms, one may feel the color of time through artful sculptures which were carefully collected from ruins. Photo stories tell of the ups and downs of a culture whose golden past has left creative artful sculptures featuring religious symbols and the curves of dancing girls, among other things.
In other words, the museum is where Cham cultural features come to life again. That is one reason it is a favorite destination for many travelers during their visit to the coastal city. According to the Danang Tourism Promotion Center, the Cham Sculpture Museum received 124,800 visitors in 2009, including 106,000 foreigners.
It is better to have an experienced guide because many of the sculptures have a mysterious legend which you may otherwise miss. If you go in a group of five, the museum can arrange a guide to lead you through the history of Cham people via sculptures featuring activities of their daily lives. If you go alone, you can also ask for a guide give him/her a tip that is more or less up to you. Or you can explore by yourself and read the historical notes for information.
If you are visiting the city, save two hours for the Cham Sculpture Museum to explore Cham cultural features. The museum is located on 2/9 Street in Danang City. Entrance is VND30,000 per adult, VND5,000 for students and free for high school students.

VietNamNet/SGT

Viet Nam News: Cham ruins and conservation works

Sanctuary remains of ancient Cham people gets protection

(29-09-2009)

HUE — The remains of a 1,200-year-old Cham sanctuary unearthed in Phu Vang District in Hue will undergo major protection works costing VND560 million (US$32,000) that is likely to be completed next year.

It will get a security post, equipment to safeguard the structure and a stele providing information about it. Its foundation will be strengthened, and two guards will be posted permanently to protect it from vandalism, according to Cao Huy Hung, director of the province’s Historic and Revolutionary Museum and the project co-ordinator. Earlier this month the museum cordoned off an area of 7,300sq.m around the tower and put up markers.

The tower was found five years ago when titanium miners dug 8m into the ground. Subsequent excavations by archaeologists revealed the foundation of another structure nearby besides many religious artefacts belonging to the ancient Cham people.

The tower has been dated between the eighth and ninth centuries, making it among the earliest Cham relics discovered so far. It dates back to the same period as the My Son Tower in Quang Nam Province further south, which has been recognised as a world heritage by the United Nations’ Education, Science and Culture Organisation (UNESCO).

Situated just 100m from the sea, the tower began to lean, develop cracks and deteriorate soon after it was discovered and exposed to the elements, especially the humidity from the ocean nearby.

At the end of 2005 a steel frame was built to prop up the tower. — VNS