Canh Tien Tower

Canh Tien Tower

Canh Tien Tower is located on top of a not very high hill in the center of Do Ban citadel, the ancient capital of the Champa kingdom in Nam An village, An Nhon town. In the book Dai Nam Nhat Thong Chi, it is written: "An Nam ancient tower in Nam An village, Tuong Van district, in Do Ban citadel, is commonly called Canh Tien tower. From the shoulder of the tower up, all four sides look like fairy wings, so it's called that name." French researchers, in their own way, call it Tour de Cuvre (Bronze Tower). Towers are a popular architectural form of Champa culture. In Cham language, there is a common word for this type of architecture: Kalan (temple). The main function of Kalan, as the word implies, is to serve spiritual life and religious rituals. However, the tower's architecture is deeply artistic and is a work in which artisans express their talent and creativity, so it is less constrained by religious rituals. Among them, Canh Tien is a beautiful tower, uniquely shaped and elegant with a very reasonable layout. The tower was built tall and imposing on a nearly square plane, each side about 10 meters long with staggered ramps. The entire tower is about 20m high, all four sides around the tower's body are decorated with wall pillars, protruding in a harmonious ratio with the overall architecture. The corners of the tower body are made of large stone blocks so it is quite sturdy. In terms of form, the tower has 4 soaring pointed arch doors opening in 4 directions, but only the main door facing east is connected to the heart of the tower, the rest are 3 fake doors. The slightly protruding frill forms a support for the corner towers above. The carved images are mainly concentrated on the roof. With four existing floors, each floor has 4 decorative corner towers, each corner has small floors, creating a leaf shape that gradually gets smaller towards the top, creating the feeling of birds in flight. Perhaps it is because of this appearance that people let their imagination run wild, associated with the image of a fairy and named the tower Canh Tien. The carved stones in the shape of a phoenix tail mounted on the floors of the fake tower and the image of Makara, a sea monster in Indian mythology with sharp fangs and a long trunk, decorating the corners of the walls give Canh Tien tower a beautiful look. Luxurious, mysterious. Unlike many Cham towers, the decoration of Canh Tien tower is elaborate to the point of perfection. From the door arch system to the flexible, symmetrically layered spiral pattern strips to the delicately carved stone blocks forming connected patterns, all exude a beauty that is both elegant, elegant, and majestic. suspicious, superficial. It is also possible that due to its graceful beauty, the tower also has the folk name of Daughter tower. According to ancient documents, Do Ban citadel was built by Champa king Ngo Nhat Hoan in the 10th century, while Canh Tien tower was built in the 12th century, under the reign of King Che Man (Jaya Sinbavarman III). Perhaps this is the Che Man tower dedicated to Queen Paramecvari, Princess Huyen Tran, the noble Vietnamese girl who put her interests first and formed a historic relationship with him. Legend has it that before leaving Dai Viet, the Tran Dynasty's princess with jade leaves and golden branches learned thoroughly all royal rituals and Champa folk activities. Working as a bride far from home, she was loved and respected by her subjects because this Vietnamese queen not only spoke Champa language fluently, knew how to sing and dance Champa folk songs, but also took the trouble to teach the royal palaces. Women and subjects from their husband's hometown weave cloth, grow rice, embroider, and sew. It is not an exaggeration to say that: Marrying Huyen Tran, Che Man's bride price was the two continents O - Ly, and Canh Tien Tower was the love gift he gave her, as a sacred recognition of his people. . Source: Website of An Nhon Town People's Committee

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Rating : National monument

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