US Helps Preserve Cham Ethnic Culture
A showroom of Cham ethnic artifacts preserved under a project funded by the US Embassy's Fund for Cultural Preservation opened at the Cham Museum in the central city of Da Nang Wednesday.
The US$25,000 project, carried out from July 2005 to March 2006, helped restore documents on the annual Kate Ceremony and preserve costumes and musical instruments at the Cham Museum.
The fund also gave $68,500 to
facilitate other projects in Vietnam, such as preservation of lacquer paintings in the Hanoi Fine Arts Museum, restoration of the Hy Hoa Temple in Hoi An ancient town in central Quang Nam province and Dau Pagoda in northern Ha Bac, and preservation of the traditional Then singing of the Tay ethnic people.
The Cham museum opened in 1916 in an open-sided building, containing the most comprehensive collection of about 450 objects of Cham art in the world.
The museum is full of statues, friezes, altars, and other items removed from Cham sanctuaries and cities, including My Son, the most significant Cham region.
The oldest items in the Da Nang museum are from My Son (4th to the 11th century) and Tra Kieu (4th to the 10th century).
Other items come from Binh Dinh province (11th to the 15th century). There are images, in sandstone and other materials, of elephants, lions, and Hindu deities.
Source: VNA
