When will the Cham Museum in Hue become a reality when antiquities are still scattered in coffee shops?

The idea of ​​building a Cham museum in Hue, where precious artifacts of the Champa kingdom are preserved and displayed, has been cherished for decades.

Cham artifacts and ancient stone steles lie along the path of the coffee shop - Photo: N.LINH

However, up to now, the project to build or choose a location for the Cham Pa cultural museum in Hue has only stopped at the idea level, without any specific implementation steps, even on the drawing board.

Forgotten antiques in a coffee shop

During a trip along the Perfume River, Mr. Thai Duong, a tourist from Ho Chi Minh City, accidentally discovered many Cham Pa artifacts lying around, forgotten, in the aisle of a coffee shop located in two ancient French villas at 23-25 ​​Le Loi Street (Hue).

"I was really surprised to see stone steles and statues of Cham gods that are hundreds to thousands of years old placed haphazardly, without anyone guarding them or any annotations," Mr. Duong shared.

Among them, the most prominent is a coffee-colored stone stele, engraved with ancient Cham characters, identified as originating from Niem Pho village. These artifacts were once owned by the Hue Museum of Culture before being dissolved and handed over to Hue City for management.

Ms. Chu Thi Hung, in charge of exhibitions at the Thuan Hoa District Culture, Information and Sports Center, said that the center is currently preserving 12 valuable Cham artifacts. However, due to limited facilities, many artifacts have to be temporarily placed on the ground floor and cannot be moved to the storage warehouse on the second floor.

Mr. Hoang Nguyen Chan Tu, deputy director in charge of the Center for Culture, Information and Sports of Thuan Hoa district, said: "We have proposed that the Department of Culture and Sports of Hue City receive and transfer these artifacts to the City History Museum for preservation and promotion of their value."

More than 250 Cham artifacts scattered throughout Hue

According to statistics, Hue is currently preserving more than 250 Cham artifacts, mainly made of sandstone, with high artistic and historical value.

However, these artifacts are scattered in many units such as Hue Royal Antiquities Museum, Hue City History Museum, Hue University of Sciences and districts and towns.

The Champa stone stele in Niem Pho village is determined to be thousands of years old - Photo: N.LINH

In particular, Hue possesses two national treasures of Champa: the Van Trach Hoa altar and the Linh Thai tower top, currently on display at the Hue City Museum of History.

According to cultural researcher Nguyen Xuan Hoa, Hue is a land deeply influenced by Champa culture, clearly shown in customs, language and folk beliefs.

He said that building a Cham Pa cultural museum is not only to preserve heritage, but also to arouse historical spirit, serve community education and develop tourism.

According to Mr. Hoa, many cultural customs in Hue today, such as worshiping the land at the beginning of the year, placing shrines in the yard... all originate from the culture of the ancient Cham people. Many local languages ​​in Hue also originate from the ancient Cham language.

In particular, in addition to the Van Trach Hoa altar and the Linh Thai tower top recognized as national treasures, Hue also has many extremely valuable Cham artifacts.

For example, the stele records that in 1346, the Cham people renovated a temple to worship King Harijit, also known as King Che Man, who married Princess Huyen Tran and agreed to donate the two provinces of O and Ri to the Tran Dynasty as a wedding gift.

Chau O and Ri were later renamed Chau Thuan and Chau Hoa, which are the lands of Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Hue city today.

"We do not need a massive project, but can take advantage of the excess administrative headquarters after the merger to make a museum. A Cham Pa museum in Hue will be a special destination, connecting research, exhibitions and artistic activities related to Cham culture," Mr. Hoa emphasized.

Champa Museum? Still open!

According to Mr. Phan Thanh Hai, Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Hue City, in the context of reorganizing the museum system in a streamlined direction, establishing a separate Cham Pa museum will be very difficult to implement.

The proposed plan is to concentrate all Cham artifacts in one place: the City History Museum, to form a complete collection and build a specialized exhibition space on Cham culture in Hue.

"This is the most suitable and feasible direction at present, ensuring both good preservation of artifacts and contributing to telling an important chapter in the history of the ancient capital," said Mr. Hai.

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NHAT LINH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bao-tang-cham-o-hue-bao-gio-thanh-hien-thuc-khi-co-vat-van-nam-rai-rac-trong-quan-ca-phe-20250623102531447.htm