Half a century journey to rebuild My Son

The late architect Kazik at My Son during the restoration period from 1980 onwards

The special mark of the late architect Kazik

Nguyen Cong Khiet, Deputy Director in charge of the My Son Cultural Heritage Management Board, said that the journey to rebuild the temple complex was a long effort, but everything only really began in 1981 with a cooperation project between the Polish and Vietnamese governments .

Documents recording the restoration process of My Son show that since 1980, within the framework of cultural cooperation between Vietnam and Poland, architect Kazimiarz Kwiatkowski - often affectionately called Kazik by colleagues and workers - and a group of Polish experts came to Central Vietnam to study the restoration of many relics.

Among these, My Son is of particular interest to Mr. Kazik because of its great values and historical depth.

Located 70km from the center of Da Nang , to reach My Son, Mr. Kazik had to travel half a day, passing through the ruins of bricks and stones, mountains and forests, and the dangers of remaining bombs and bullets.

In My Son, the Polish experts and a team of local workers, including Mr. Nguyen Thuong Hy, chose a flat piece of land under the forest to build a hut.

Recalling the moment he helped Kazik, Mr. Le Van Minh, an officer of the Conservation - Museum Department of the My Son Cultural Heritage Management Board, said that this Polish architect almost gave up all his concerns to focus on research and find the most accurate restoration plan for My Son.

"Every day he diligently measured, drew, took pictures, and meticulously recorded and described the current situation, under the sweltering heat of the rocky valley. He often wore shorts and a T-shirt, sometimes without a shirt.

At night, he often sat on the B1 stone tower, pondering something and staring at the reliefs and patterns on the wall that had fallen over," Mr. Minh recalled.

Painter Nguyen Thuong Hy said that in 1981, when Kazik went to My Son, he was assigned to join a group of experts to work in the valley, which was then just a jungle, bombs, collapsed relics and mostly buried by forest trees.

"Mr. Kazik slept in a shack with the workers. Sometimes it was so hot that he crawled into the tower to sleep. At night, flocks of bats flew around, making it impossible for Kazik to sleep.

I still remember the scene of him wrapping dry grass into a torch to chase away the bats. One day, unfortunately, the embers fell and burned the mosquito net. After chasing away the bats, the mosquitoes came, and by the time the mosquitoes were gone, it was already dawn" - Mr. Hy recalled.

January to June every year is the time when the restoration site is active. After Tet, the team of experts and architect Kazik are back in My Son.

The years spent in the ancient tower area left him with endless inspiration and a master's scientific , meticulous, and precise working style. It was from Kazik that My Son began to have its first "domestic" team of workers and experts.

"During Tet, Kazik and I celebrated New Year's Eve with vodka he brought from his hometown and Nam O firecrackers he bought in Da Nang. When the firecrackers exploded too loudly, Kizak said he felt guilty for disturbing the quiet space of the ancients.

One day, the local workers invited him and me to their house to attend the anniversary. When we were drunk enough to "hang the fishing rod", Mr. Kazik kicked his left foot to return to the shack, he looked at the tilted B5 tower and said to me in a drunken voice: "Hey Hy! The tower is drunk but we can't get drunk, we have to stay sober to save the tower" - Mr. Hy told a funny memory about the late Polish architect.

Domestic and foreign experts and scientists with the restoration team at My Son in the period 1997-2013 - Photo: BD captured the document

Without international friends, there would be no My Son today.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of My Son Temple Complex being recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage in 2024, one of the most mentioned things is the special affection that UNESCO, the world's scientific community and governments have for My Son.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Khiet affirmed that without the attention of the government and friends at home and abroad, it would be difficult to have a My Son as brilliant as it is today. Restoring relics cannot be done with money.

According to Mr. Khiet, since 1990 when the Polish expert group left, My Son has been centrally managed by the government. The main task is to maintain its original state, to maximize the conservation of space, landscape, and architectural works.

Remembering this period, Mr. Khiet said that it was very surprising that from around 1990, My Son began to have groups of visitors coming even though there were no services and the way to the tower was extremely difficult.

Tourists after the arduous journey to My Son all reported that they read information about the mysterious temple complex from a document copied by a foreign scholar who went on field trips.

Mr. Khiet said that on December 15, 1995, the My Son temple complex was assigned to the Duy Xuyen District People's Committee for management, with security teams and tourism service forces.

From being unknown, My Son has attracted more and more visitors every year. The good news spread far and wide, and My Son has gradually become known in the heritage tourism community.

In 1999, a phone call from the capital Hanoi to the landline at the headquarters of the My Son Cultural Heritage Management Board announcing that the temple complex had been officially recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage made everyone explode.

"I can't forget that night. When I received the phone call, we were sitting in the hut, it was pouring rain and floods, we all jumped up and hugged each other in joy. We knew My Son was being given a priceless opportunity to honor its heritage, preserve it, and promote it," said Mr. Khiet.

Many large projects to reconstruct My Son

According to the My Son Cultural Heritage Management Board, after being recognized as a World Cultural Heritage, many projects have poured in.

Specifically: The cooperation project between UNESCO - My Son and the Italian Government in the period 2003-2012 discovered 1,200 artifacts in the G tower group area, determining the age of the bricks.

In 2002, the My Son Cultural Heritage Management Board cooperated with the Institute of Archaeology to excavate Khe The stream, collecting 216 sandstone artifacts and some terracotta and ceramic objects; dredging Khe The stream flowing between area A and area B, C, D to prevent landslides in tower group A.

In 2005, with financial support from the Japanese Government, My Son Exhibition House (My Son Museum) was built.

In 2008, the master plan for the My Son temple complex for the 2008-2020 period was approved by the Prime Minister with a total budget of 282 billion VND.

From 2011 to 2015, the Institute for Monuments Conservation implemented a project to restore and preserve the E7 tower, one of the Kosagrha structures with the most intact boat-shaped curved roof in terms of architectural form.

In particular, from 2017 to 2022, the Indian Government funded 55 billion VND to restore the K, H, and A towers. During the restoration process, 734 artifacts of various types were collected, and the largest monolithic Linga - Yoni tower A10 was discovered. In 2022, this altar was recognized as a national treasure.

Recently, the project to preserve towers E and F worth a total of 4.852 million USD from non-refundable aid from India has begun. Experts are currently present at the holy site to work until 2029.

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Until now, no document or scientist can confirm the exact shape of the My Son temple tower in the past. Therefore, excavation projects continue to solve the thousand-year-old mystery.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nua-the-ky-dung-lai-hinh-hai-my-son-ky-2-hanh-trinh-nua-the-ky-dung-lai-my-son-20250810102007795.ht