2015-02-11 Mỹ Sơn – where some (Judy) went today

This is copied from Wikipedia, but is good as it describes where Judy and some others went today.

Mỹ Sơn (Vietnamese pronunciation: [mǐˀ səːn]) is a cluster of abandoned and partially ruined Hindu temples constructed between the 4th and the 14th century AD by the kings of Champa (Chiêm Thành in Vietnamese).[1][2] The temples are dedicated to the worship of the god Shiva, known under various local names, the most important of which is “Bhadresvara”.

Mỹ Sơn is located near the village of Duy Phú, in the administrative district of Duy Xuyên in Quảng Nam Province in Central Vietnam, 69 km southwest of Da Nang, and approximately 10 km from the historic town of Trà Kiệu. The temples are in a valley roughly two kilometres wide that is surrounded by two mountain ranges.

From the 4th to the 14th century AD, the valley at Mỹ Sơn was a site of religious ceremony for kings of the ruling dynasties of Champa, as well as a burial place for Cham royalty and national heroes. It was closely associated with the nearby Cham cities of Indrapura (Đồng Dương) and Simhapura (Trà Kiệu). At one time, the site encompassed over 70 temples as well as numerous stele bearing historically important inscriptions in Sanskrit and Cham.[3]

Mỹ Sơn is perhaps the longest inhabited archaeological site in Indochina, but a large majority of its architecture was destroyed by US carpet bombing during a single week of the Vietnam War.[4]

The Mỹ Sơn temple complex is regarded one of the foremost Hindu temple complexes in Southeast Asia and is the foremost heritage site of this nature in Vietnam. It is often compared with other historical temple complexes in Southeast Asia, such as Borobudur of Java in Indonesia, Angkor Wat of Cambodia, Bagan of Myanmar and Ayutthaya of Thailand. As of 1999, Mỹ Sơn has been recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site. At its 23rd meeting, UNESCO accorded Mỹ Sơn this recognition pursuant to its criterion C (II), as an example of evolution and change in culture, and pursuant to its criterion C (III), as evidence of an Asian civilisation which is now extinct.

Types of buildings
All of the remaining buildings at Mỹ Sơn are believed to be religious buildings. They are of the following types:[20]

A kalan is a brick sanctuary, typically in the form of a tower, used to house a deity.
A mandapa is an entry hallway contiguous with a sanctuary.
A kosagrha or “fire-house” is a construction, typically with a saddle-shaped roof, used to house the valuables belonging to the deity or to cook for the deity.
A gopura is a gate-tower leading into a walled temple complex.

Inscriptions
The people of Champa maintained written records in both Sanskrit and old Cham. They wrote on perishable materials, such as large leaves, and also created inscriptions in stone. They used scripts borrowed from India. None of the writings on perishable materials have survived. However, numerous stone inscriptions have been preserved, transcribed, and translated into modern languages.[30]

Many of Champa’s most important inscriptions are on steles, that is to say on slabs or pillars of stone erected precisely for the purpose of hosting inscriptions. Scholars have found approximately 32 steles at Mỹ Sơn, dated between the 5th and the 12th century AD.[31]

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