A couple of years ago I had a chance to take a 5 days long local tour from
Ho Chi Mihn City to central Vietnam. On this trip, we have also visited these beautiful buildings called Cham Towers. These towers were built were built to worship King Poklongarai, who had good deeds for the
Cham people.
Cham people are an ethnic group in South East Asia with an estimated population of 500,000 people. They are concentrated between the Kampong Cham Province in Cambodia and central Vietnam's Phan Rang-Thap Cham, Phan Thiết, Ho Chi Minh City and An Giang areas.
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| Cham Towers - Source: AsiaSingapore |
Poklongarai Towers consist of 3 towers beautifully crafted and decorated with valuable sculptures:
The first one is the Main Tower which is 13.8 meters long, 10.71 meters wide and 20.5 meters high. It was the main site for religious ceremonies. A bust of King Poklongarai was respectfully placed inside the Main Tower for worshiping.
The second one is the Gate Tower at 5.10 meters long, 4.85 meters wide and 5.65 meters high. This was where the king received his guests. The last one, the Fire Tower, at 8.18 meters long, 5 meters wide and 9.31 meters high, was the kitchen.
Source: Vietnam.net
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| Cham Towers - Source: AsiaSingapore |
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| A stone carved sculpture on one of the towers |
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