You will not see a single standing tower above ground in Phong Lệ village. What appears before your eyes on the high mound beside the Cẩm Lệ River is a plot of land amid neighborhood houses, a small Vietnamese shrine to the Lady (miếu Bà), two old graves, and beneath that layer of earth the brick foundations of a temple complex built a thousand years ago. To picture this place, you must look down rather than up.
In April 2011, a local household digging house foundations struck ancient bricks and carved sandstone. Three subsequent excavation seasons conducted by the Đà Nẵng Museum of Cham Sculpture in collaboration with the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) exposed the foundations of at least three towers belonging to a Cham Hindu temple complex built around the early 10th century. No walls, roofs, or celebrants remain. Yet directly beneath the main sanctuary chamber lies a brick-lined sacred pit measuring roughly 4.25 meters on each side, and that pit makes Phong Lệ distinct among the Cham monuments in this library.
IA temple complex whose presiding deity remains unknown
What is certain is that Phong Lệ once functioned as a Cham Hindu temple complex in the region of Amaravati, corresponding to present-day Quảng Nam and Đà Nẵng. What remains uncertain is which specific deity was worshiped inside each tower. To date, the library has found no archaeological report naming Shiva or another deity as the presiding lord of the main tower, so this entry does not assign a deity name to the site.
One further point should be stated plainly, namely that Phong Lệ today is an archaeological ruin. It is no longer an active place of worship, no Cham community comes here to perform rites, and all that survives are foundations resting underground.
In Hindu doctrine, a temple is not a mere house for a god, but a microcosm of the universe in which the tower body represents the sacred mountain and the inner chamber marks the point where the deity is present. Accordingly, building a temple does not begin with the first course of wall brick, but with the earth beneath its feet. Hindu sacred architecture includes foundation consecration rites in which sacred substances are deposited in the ground prior to construction so that the earth itself is dedicated to the deity.
Which liturgical manual the Cham priests at Phong Lệ followed and what prayers they recited are unrecorded, as no inscription survives on site. What archaeology reveals is the physical imprint of that rite through an intricately constructed brick pit set directly beneath the main sanctum.
From a historical standpoint, everything known about Phong Lệ comes from excavated earth rather than written texts. No in-situ stele has been published naming the founding monarch or the title of the deity. Chronology is therefore established through artifacts, specifically the style of the sandstone sculptures and thin bluish-white glazed Song dynasty porcelain shards used in temple rituals. When the site came to light in 2011, residents and archaeologists uncovered a bird-bodied human-headed sculpture, and the 2012 and 2018 excavations added a Sinha lion statue, an elephant-carved pillar pedestal, a Naga serpent carved in gray quartz, and four stone tower spires. All of these are architectural ornaments and guardian figures rather than the central object of worship from the inner sanctum.
Two common misunderstandings should be clarified from the historical record.
First, the small shrine standing on the site is not a Cham structure. Within the archaeological zone stands a Lady Shrine (miếu Bà) built in 1862 during the reign of Emperor Tự Đức along with two old graves. That is a later Vietnamese layer of folk worship established atop the former temple mound, unconnected to Cham liturgy.
Second, there is no on-site museum building here yet. In 2017 the city approved a plan to develop the 17,087-square-meter archaeological zone into a second branch of the Đà Nẵng Museum of Cham Sculpture at Phong Lệ, but the on-site exhibition facility has not yet been completed. The stone sculptures unearthed during the excavations are currently housed and conserved at the Đà Nẵng Museum of Cham Sculpture.
IIFrom a house foundation trench to three excavations
The history of Phong Lệ falls into two halves separated by a thousand years. The first half is the era when the temple complex was erected and maintained for worship, known through its material remains. The second half began in April 2011 when the earth was opened, and everything known about the first half is told by the soil layers of the second.
- Early 10th centuryConstruction of the temple complexDate proposed by archaeologists on the basis of stone sculpture and ceramics rather than inscriptions. The complex belonged to the Amaravati region of Champa.
- 12th centuryContinued ritual useThin bluish-white glazed Song dynasty porcelain shards and artifact strata indicate that the sanctuary remained in ritual use by the Cham until at least the 12th century.
- 1862Erection of the Lady ShrineVietnamese villagers built a small miếu Bà shrine on the mound in the 15th year of Emperor Tự Đức (1862), representing a later folk worship layer of Phong Lệ village.
- April 2011Accidental discovery and first excavationA household digging house foundations struck brick masonry and carved sandstone, including a bird-bodied human-headed figure. The Đà Nẵng Museum of Cham Sculpture conducted the first excavation later in 2011.
- 2012Second excavation seasonFour trenches totaling nearly 300 square meters exposed the main tower foundation and the sacred pit measuring roughly 4.25 by 4.25 meters and 1.8 meters deep beneath the sanctum.
- 2018Third excavation seasonConducted from July 18 to August 20, 2018 across nearly 350 square meters, uncovering an intact 1.09-meter stone Sinha lion statue, a 0.8-meter elephant-carved pedestal, a gray quartz Naga serpent, and four stone tower spires.
- 2020City-level heritage rankingThe Đà Nẵng City People's Committee issued Decision 4568/QĐ-UBND on November 27, 2020 ranking the site as a municipal archaeological monument, with the certificate presented in February 2021.
Where sources differ on dating, the distinction is straightforward. The archaeological report released after the 2018 excavation proposes that the temple complex was founded around the early 10th century and remained in worship until at least the 12th century. Several Đà Nẵng tourism summaries compress this into around the 11th to 12th centuries. Both figures derive from artifact dating rather than an inscribed foundation year. The library follows the archaeological excavation report while noting the alternative summary figure for comparison.
IIIFoundations and the sacred pit
At a standing Cham monument such as the towers described in the entry on Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary, visitors see the walls, roof tiers, doorways, and carvings, but never see what lies beneath the sanctum floor. Phong Lệ shows the exact reverse. The superstructure is completely gone while the substructure lies open, offering a rare view of how a Cham temple tower was anchored into the earth.
Measuring roughly 16 meters on each side according to the Đà Nẵng Museum of Cham Sculpture, with all four corners identifiable. The 2012 report describes a near-cruciform plan resting on a 10-centimeter layer of rammed brick rubble topped by rubbed full bricks surviving up to four courses thick.
The main entrance opens to the east while the other three sides had false doors, matching the canonical plan of a kalan, the main sanctuary tower of a Cham temple complex.
A square chamber roughly 4.25 by 4.25 meters across and 1.8 meters deep with walls of three rubbed-brick courses, filled with a 1.6-meter layer of river pebbles alternating with pure white sand. A 1-meter circular hole bordered by egg-shaped pebbles sits at the center, while 8 small tower-shaped niches (2 on each wall) are set near the bottom of the four walls corresponding to the eight directions.
White quartz stones placed in front of the small wall niches, and at the bottom a square brick laid flat atop an upright cylindrical granite pebble surrounded by fine sand mixed with tiny gold-colored metal flakes identified as gold leaf from the foundation consecration rite.
An intact sandstone Sinha lion statue (1.09 m high, 0.44 m long, 0.45 m wide), an elephant-carved pillar pedestal (0.8 m long, 0.5 m wide, 0.34 m high), a gray quartz Naga serpent, and four corner tower spires.
Champa earthenware and thin bluish-white glazed Song dynasty porcelain shards, the key artifact group establishing that ritual activity continued into the 12th century.
Why the sacred pit matters
When archaeologists announced the 2012 excavation findings, they noted that this was the first time an intact sacred pit with such an elaborate internal layout had been excavated at a Cham monument. The chamber provides direct material evidence of the brick-laying and foundation consecration rite performed by the Cham at the base of a temple before its walls were raised.
A balanced reading requires noting that while archaeology reveals the physical form and materials of the ceremony, the liturgical text explaining each element has not survived. Why a square brick was placed atop an upright egg-shaped pebble, why alternating layers of white sand and pebbles were laid, and how the 8 small tower-shaped niches on the four walls functioned are questions researchers continue to study. The library records the archaeological evidence as found without inventing symbolic explanations beyond the sources.
IVThe lie of the land and orientation
The Cham built this sanctuary according to the canons of Hindu temple architecture, and those canons come first. The main doorway faces east toward the rising sun. Temples were placed on mounds or high ground because the tower body represents the sacred cosmic mountain, set in relation to mountains and sacred water. Hinduism does not teach East Asian geomancy. The reading below is offered by the library through the lens of traditional Vietnamese landform analysis for comparison, not something recorded in any Phong Lệ document or considered by the Cham builders.
Phong Lệ presents a reader of landform with an unusual situation, because only the foundation remains on the high mound beside the Cẩm Lệ River while the vertical mass of the towers has vanished. Traditional Vietnamese siting normally reads a standing structure between mountain and water. Here the Cẩm Lệ River still curves past the elevated mound, leaving the ground plan and compass axis as the primary features to read.
The foremost feature is the eastern axis. In traditional Vietnamese geomancy, the east belongs to the Wood phase and corresponds to the rising vitality of morning. The Cham builders chose that same direction for their own liturgical reason, so that the first rays of morning sunlight would illuminate the sacred emblem inside the sanctum. The two traditions arrive at the same compass bearing for different reasons, and this entry keeps both reasons distinct.
The second feature is the sacred pit beneath the sanctum. East Asian geomancy speaks extensively of the node (huyệt), the focal point that gathers qi where a house or tomb must be centered. Seeing a sacred pit set at the exact center of the tower foundation with eight small niches facing the eight directions, a practitioner of traditional geomancy easily thinks of locating the node (điểm huyệt) and anchoring the site. Yet the comparison should go no further. The Cham sacred pit consecrated the temple foundation according to Hindu cosmology rather than geomantic vein divination.
Finally, there is the later settlement layer. After the Cham temple collapsed and was covered by soil, a Vietnamese village grew above it with houses, graves, and a shrine. In traditional Vietnamese custom, high ground beside a river that once served as sacred land is often respected by later generations, and the erection of the Lady Shrine in 1862 on this exact mound accords with that sensibility. That is an observation by the library rather than a statement from the shrine's records.
VRituals reconstructed from the soil
At Phong Lệ no Cham rituals take place today, and there is no active festival calendar to list. Sanctuaries where Cham Balamon communities still open tower doors for the Katê festival lie further south in south-central Vietnam, such as Po Klong Garai Towers. The table below reconstructs the ancient rites attested by the excavated artifacts and architectural traces at the site.
| Rite | Practice | Material trace at Phong Lệ |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation consecration | Depositing sacred objects in the earth beneath the center of the kalan floor prior to raising the tower walls. | A square pit 4.25 x 4.25 m across and 1.8 m deep lined with three courses of rubbed brick, with 8 small tower-shaped niches, egg-shaped pebbles, white sand, white quartz, a square brick, and gold leaf flakes. |
| Daily offerings before the deity | Regular Hindu temple worship performed inside the kalan chamber through a single real doorway. | Main tower foundation measuring about 16 m per side with one eastern entrance and three false doors. |
| Use of ritual vessels | Holding sanctified water, flowers, and offerings presented to the deity. | Thin bluish-white glazed Song dynasty porcelain shards and Champa earthenware in the excavation strata. |
| Guarding the sacred enclosure | Placing mythical animal sculptures around the temple and pedestals to protect the sanctuary. | Intact 1.09-meter sandstone Sinha lion statue, 0.8-meter elephant-carved pedestal, and gray quartz Naga serpent. |
| Crowning the roof tiers | Finishing the roof tiers and summit with miniature stone spires shaped like tapering mountain peaks. | Four stone tower spires recovered during the 2018 excavation. |
The Lady Shrine (miếu Bà) built in 1862 within the compound belongs to the folk religion of the Vietnamese villagers rather than the liturgy of the Cham temple. To read about a Cham sanctuary in the same Amaravati region where temple towers still stand, see Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary. The closest site to Phong Lệ in the library is Marble Mountains (Ngũ Hành Sơn), roughly 7.4 kilometers away.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Làng Phong Lệ, phường Cẩm Lệ (phường Hòa Thọ Đông cũ, quận Cẩm Lệ cũ), thành phố Đà Nẵng. Nghị quyết sắp xếp năm 2025 gộp Hòa Thọ Tây, Hòa Thọ Đông và Khuê Trung thành phường Cẩm Lệ
- Getting there
- Phong Lệ village, Cẩm Lệ ward, Đà Nẵng city, formerly Hòa Thọ Đông ward, Cẩm Lệ district. Within the library, the nearest site is Marble Mountains (Ngũ Hành Sơn), about 7.4 kilometers away.
- Coordinates
- 16.0022, 108.1986
This is an archaeological site situated amid a residential neighborhood, so the rule here is to preserve the earth and the ancient brick courses. Do not step down into excavation trenches, do not pick up brick or pottery fragments to take home, and do not lean on exposed foundation walls. If the site is fenced or attended by a caretaker, follow on-site instructions. Please keep quiet out of respect for surrounding households, and if entering the Lady Shrine, follow the customs of the shrine.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
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?Quick Questions
Where are the Phong Lệ Cham Temple Ruins located
On a high mound beside the Cẩm Lệ River in Phong Lệ village, Cẩm Lệ ward, Đà Nẵng city. Prior to the 2025 administrative merger, this was Hòa Thọ Đông ward, Cẩm Lệ district, which was merged with Hòa Thọ Tây and Khuê Trung to form Cẩm Lệ ward. The archaeological site lies amid a residential neighborhood.
Who was worshiped at the Phong Lệ Cham Temple
The specific deity remains unknown. This was a Cham Hindu temple complex, but no inscription or archaeological report has identified whether the main tower worshiped Shiva or another deity. Excavated sculptures including a Sinha lion, an elephant pedestal, a Naga serpent, and tower spires are architectural ornaments and guardian figures rather than the central cult emblem.
Are any towers still standing at Phong Lệ
No. Phong Lệ preserves only the underground foundations of at least three towers, with no surviving walls or roofs above ground. It is no longer an active place of Cham worship. Its special archaeological value lies in the main tower foundation measuring roughly 16 meters on each side and the sacred consecration pit beneath it.
What is the Phong Lệ sacred pit
It is a square chamber measuring roughly 4.25 by 4.25 meters across and 1.8 meters deep, lined with three courses of rubbed brick directly beneath the center of the main sanctuary, featuring 8 small tower-shaped niches near the bottom of its four walls corresponding to the eight directions. Filled with river pebbles and pure white sand, its base held white quartz stones, a square brick resting on an upright cylindrical granite pebble, and tiny gold leaf flakes, providing direct archaeological evidence of Cham foundation consecration rites.
When was the Phong Lệ Cham Temple complex built
Based on sandstone sculptural style and thin bluish-white glazed Song dynasty porcelain shards recovered in 2018, archaeologists propose that the complex was founded around the early 10th century and remained in active worship until at least the 12th century. Some Đà Nẵng summaries state around the 11th to 12th centuries.