Da Nang (VNS/VNA) – New excavations have revealed what archaeologists describe as a rare and significant discovery at My Son Sanctuary: an ancient entrance road linking Tower K to the central complex, believed to have served as a sacred route for Hindu deities and a royal passage for Champa kings and priests between the 10th and 12th centuries.
Reports from archaeological programmes conducted at the site from July to November show that this sacred road and entrance structure have been unearthed for the first time in the known history of the World Heritage Site, according to the management board of the My Son Sanctuary.
It said the road, built between the 10th and 12th centuries, had not been known until June 2023, when a group of archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology and the sanctuary’s management board began the first excavations over a 220sq.m area during 2023–2024.
Ngo Van Doanh, an expert at the Institute for Southeast Asian Studies, said the finding of the road is not only of great architectural value, but also highlights the unique position of the first fully excavated pathway within the sanctuary.
“It also identified the positions of five gates on the right side of the guide wall of the sacred road. And the discovery had not been identified by Henri Parmentier, a prominent archaeologist with the L’EÙcole Francaise d’Extreâme Orient (the Far East Archaeological Research Institute) and French archaeologists in different excavations at the site in the 19th century,” Doanh said.
“Documents and items from the latest excavations strongly confirmed that the road is a sacred entrance to My Son Sanctuary, one of the greatest archaeological achievements of Vietnam in modern times.”
Nguyen Ngoc Quy, an expert from the Institute of Archaeology, shared that a group of Indian archaeologists had earlier identified two gates to the east and west of Tower K, as well as a section of the guide wall leading to towers E and F during a restoration project in 2017–2018.
The first excavation around Tower K in 2023–2024 revealed two additional guide wall sections of the entrance road leading from Tower K to towers E and F, Quy said.
An archaeological research and excavation programme carried out in July 2025 uncovered a road section to the east of Tower K measuring about 75m in length and 9m in width, according to the report.
The road surface was compacted from a mixture of sand, pebbles and crushed bricks with a thickness of 0.15m to 0.2m. The guide walls were constructed from bricks on foundations made of brick powder and ground pebbles, the sanctuary’s management board reported. The excavation also identified a number of artefacts and fragments of terracotta and ceramics dated to between the 10th and 12th centuries.
Researcher and artist Nguyen Thuong Hy, an expert on Champa culture, said the initial findings of the sacred road would contribute to a better understanding of Champa spirituality and religious practices.
He said recent excavations along the road have sparked further research into its significance as a key spiritual entrance to My Son Sanctuary.
Nguyen Cong Khiet, deputy head of the management board of the My Son Sanctuary World Heritage Site, said more conservation and restoration programmes will be carried out to support archaeological research and promote tourism.
My Son Sanctuary was recognised by UNESCO as a world heritage site in 1999.
Located about 70km from downtown Da Nang, My Son is the only central complex of Champa towers dating from the 4th to the 13th centuries, representing a unique centre of the former Champa Kingdom in central Vietnam.
Many artefacts excavated from the sanctuary have been preserved and displayed at the Cham Sculpture Museum in Da Nang since 1915, with significant contributions from French archaeologist Henri Parmentier.
The restoration and preservation of My Son Sanctuary have also benefited from the dedication of late Polish archaeologist and architect Kazimierz Kwiatkowski, known as ‘Kazik’, along with the support of international organisations and the governments of Italy, India and Poland over the past decades./.
