Amid the rice fields and village roofs of Khương Mỹ hamlet, three brick towers stand in a straight line from north to south, with the southern tower rising highest of all, locally known as Tháp Ba (Three Towers). Standing close to the walls, visitors see what many other Cham towers have lost, namely bands of S-shaped botanical scrolls running up the pilasters, layered false door arches, and around the base carvings of monkeys, sacred serpents, divine birds, and riders on elephants and horses.
This is Tháp Khương Mỹ (Khương Mỹ Cham Towers), a Cham Hindu temple complex built around the late 9th to early 10th century in the land of Amaravati. The name of this village later became the name of an entire style in the history of Champa art. In other words, what visitors see on the walls here is the benchmark used by scholars to identify that style elsewhere.
IThree towers and the imprint of Vishnu
Regarding the deities worshiped at Khương Mỹ, sources follow two lines of interpretation. According to a common explanation cited by the Vietnam News Agency, the three parallel towers honor the Hindu Trimurti, with the South Tower dedicated to Vishnu, the Central Tower to Shiva, and the North Tower to Brahma. Meanwhile, a study in Di sản Văn hóa journal and an article in Đắk Lắk newspaper note that almost all sculptures discovered at the site belong to Vaishnavism while images of Shiva and Brahma are absent, leading many scholars to conclude that the entire Khương Mỹ complex was dedicated to Vishnu.
In Hindu doctrine, Brahma presides over creation, Vishnu over preservation, and Shiva over dissolution and renewal. The three are facets of one cosmic process rather than a rigid hierarchy. A fuller explanation of the triad and of the linga and yoni is given in the article on Mỹ Sơn.
What stands out at Khương Mỹ is that under either reading, Vishnu holds the most prominent place, linked to the tallest South Tower and to the series of sculptures found on the site. In a kingdom where Shiva was usually revered above all, the strong presence of Vishnu, of his avatar Krishna lifting Mount Govardhana, and of his avatar Rama with the monkey army from the Ramayana around the tower bases gives Khương Mỹ a distinct character among Champa temples.
Most of the original stone sculptures from Khương Mỹ have been moved to museums. The Museum of Cham Sculpture in Đà Nẵng preserves a sandstone relief of four-armed Vishnu holding a mace, conch, lotus, and discus (47 cm high), as well as a relief from the South Tower showing Krishna lifting Mount Govardhana to shelter villagers from torrential rain (90 cm high). A freestanding four-armed statue of Vishnu found at Khương Mỹ is now kept at the Museum of Vietnamese History in Ho Chi Minh City. In addition, in 1918 French archaeologists unearthed a sandstone balustrade at the site carved with two figures in combat, identified as Prince Rama and the demon king Ravana from the Ramayana.
There is a frequent misunderstanding here that deserves a factual explanation. Visitors arriving at Khương Mỹ after the 2022 restoration often notice plain new brick patches beside the old carved brickwork and assume the restorers neglected to carve the patterns. That is not the case. According to Thanh Niên newspaper, leaving the new bricks uncarved was a deliberate decision required by the Department of Cultural Heritage, because there was insufficient documentation to reconstruct the lost motifs accurately, and carving new ones from guesswork would create fake ornament without historical value. Those plain surfaces let visitors tell at a glance which bricks are a thousand years old and which belong to the modern stabilization.
IIFrom type site to modern restoration
No inscription is known to record the founding year of Khương Mỹ. Its date in the late 9th to early 10th century is determined by artistic style, and that style itself takes its name from this monument. According to the architectural survey by the French scholar Henri Parmentier, among the three sanctuaries here the South Tower was built first, followed by the North Tower, and finally the Central Tower.
- Late 9th to early 10th centuryConstruction of the three towersThree towers built along a north-south axis with doors facing East in the land of Amaravati. According to H. Parmentier, the South Tower was erected first, then the North Tower, and last the Central Tower.
- Early 10th centuryThe style named after Khương MỹArt historians took this tower group as the type site for the early 10th-century phase that combined Cham traditions with several contemporary Khmer decorative motifs.
- 1918Excavation and transfer of sculptures to museumsFrench archaeologists found the sandstone balustrade depicting the Ramayana along with Vaishnava sculptures, most of which were later transferred to the Museum of Cham Sculpture in Đà Nẵng and the Museum of Vietnamese History in Ho Chi Minh City.
- 1989National heritage siteRanked as a national architectural and artistic heritage site under Decision No. 100-VH/QĐ of the Ministry of Culture on 21 January 1989.
- December 2022Completion of North and Central Tower restorationAccording to Thanh Niên, a 12.6 billion VND conservation project (approved in October 2019) for the North and Central Towers was completed, preserving original carved brickwork and filling eroded sections with flat bricks.
- After 2022Desalination and ongoing conservationNew brick surfaces that showed salt efflorescence and moss in 2023 were cleaned and continue to be monitored by heritage specialists.
Sources phrase the transitional position of the style in two ways. Many architectural studies place the Khương Mỹ style as a transition between the Đồng Dương style and the Mỹ Sơn A1 style. Đắk Lắk newspaper describes it as a transition between Đồng Dương and Trà Kiệu. This difference arises because scholars use two parallel naming scales for Cham architecture and Cham sculpture, with Mỹ Sơn A1 naming the architectural phase and Trà Kiệu naming the corresponding sculptural phase. In addition, Di sản Văn hóa journal and Dân Trí newspaper point out the appearance of late 9th to early 10th century Khmer artistic motifs on Khương Mỹ's walls, such as curled leaf tips and linked lozenge bands.
IIIReading an artistic style on the brick walls
All three towers have nearly square plans and three-tiered roofs diminishing upward, crowned by sandstone finials. The South Tower is the largest, the Central Tower medium-sized, and the North Tower the smallest. Each tower has one real doorway opening to the East and five false doors with arched pediments. What makes Khương Mỹ remarkable is that the surface carving on its brick walls survives far better than on most towers of the same era, especially on the closely spaced side walls sheltered from wind and storms, providing the exact visual markers used to define the style.
Each wall face has five pilasters carved with continuous S-shaped botanical scrolls, alternating with wall strips of linked lozenges running from base to cornice.
The false doors are bricked shut and topped by curved arches carved with stylized foliage whose leaf tips curl upward, culminating in a bodhi-leaf apex.
Set into the walls and bases are terracotta and sandstone carvings of the divine bird Garuda, Naga serpents, elephant riders, horse riders, and flying warriors. Excavations 0.3 to 0.5 meters around the base uncovered stone slabs of monkeys standing, sitting, holding drums, and nursing young, linked to the Ramayana.
The roof tiers repeat the form of the main body on a diminishing scale, topped by a sandstone finial, embodying the sacred mountain of Hindu temple architecture.
Eroded corner sections where original ornament had vanished were stabilized with flat bricks without new carving, following the authenticity guidelines of the Department of Cultural Heritage.
Where Khương Mỹ stands in the stream of Cham art
Immediately preceding Khương Mỹ is the Đồng Dương style, associated with Đồng Dương Buddhist Monastery and marked by vigorous, heavy forms. Immediately following is the Mỹ Sơn A1 style (and Trà Kiệu sculpture), named after the main sanctuary of Group A at Mỹ Sơn. Khương Mỹ stands midway between the two, shifting from forceful mass toward refined elegance while incorporating Khmer floral motifs, and its richly carved brick walls make that transition visible.
To see how that trajectory continued, visitors can compare it with Chiên Đàn Cham Towers, about 10 kilometers to the northwest. Built roughly two centuries later, Chiên Đàn leaves its brick walls plain and concentrates its carving on the sandstone base. Placing the two groups side by side shows two distinct ways of treating temple walls separated by two hundred years.
IVThe lie of the land and orientation
This section deliberately places two perspectives side by side. The first is the rule of the temple builders. Hindu temples open their main doors to the East to greet the rising sun, are typically set on a mound or raised ground, and treat the tower body as a sacred mountain rising amid water-nourished land. Hinduism does not teach geomancy. The second perspective is traditional Vietnamese geomancy, offered by the library so readers familiar with that tradition have a point of comparison, not something recorded in any historical document on Khương Mỹ.
The first thing a geomancer notices is that the three towers stand in a line with the South Tower tallest. Traditional Vietnamese siting usually expects the central peak to rise highest as the master peak. Here the tallest tower stands at the southern end, and as H. Parmentier observed, the South Tower was built first, followed by the North Tower and then the Central Tower between them. In the Five Elements, the South belongs to Fire, corresponding to the brightest quarter of the sky. Yet the historical reason for this arrangement lies in the sequence of construction and the deity honored in the South Tower, not in geomancy.
Second is the low mound and the eastern front facing the sea. Khương Mỹ sits on a low mound in the southern coastal plain of the Quảng region, looking East toward the sea. Traditional Vietnamese geomancy reads a structure on a flatland rise facing open water as a water-facing flatland siting (bình dương hướng thủy), taking the water as its bright hall (minh đường). The Cham builders faced the doors East for their own religious reason, so the first rays of morning sun would illuminate the sacred image inside. Two different reasons lead to the same direction without sharing a common root.
Third is the surrounding village land. Today the towers stand about two hundred meters west of the National Highway 1A bypass, encircled by village houses, gardens, and rice fields. Traditional lore regards a shrine surrounded by a lively settlement as warmed by human presence. That is the landscape of today rather than the landscape when the Cham erected the towers, and the library does not project this modern setting back into the past.
Finally, the brick walls themselves read like a map. A geomancer reads mountains and rivers from the outside in. At Khương Mỹ, the wall surface itself carries bands of S-scrolls, pilasters standing like rows of columns, and layered false arches. That is the clearest text to read at this site, and it belongs entirely to the artistic canon of the Cham builders.
VRituals in a three-tower complex
At Khương Mỹ today there is no longer a Cham community performing rituals. The complex is an architectural monument without an active Cham festival calendar. The Katê festival of the Cham Balamon community now takes place at temples in south-central Vietnam, such as Po Klong Garai Cham Towers. The table below outlines the rituals that belonged to this three-tower sanctuary, read from Khương Mỹ's own layout and carvings.
| Ritual | Meaning and practice | Physical trace at Khương Mỹ |
|---|---|---|
| Separate offerings in each sanctuary | Each kalan was an independent shrine where offerings were presented before the sacred image through a single real doorway. | Three towers, each with one eastern entrance and five false doors. |
| Veneration of Vishnu | Vishnu and his avatars Krishna and Rama occupy the central place in the sculptures of the complex. | The tallest South Tower, the four-armed Vishnu statue, and the Krishna Govardhana relief. |
| Reciting epics in stone | Scenes from the Ramayana were carved around the base for worshippers to follow while walking around the shrine. | Stone slabs of monkeys around the base and the 1918 balustrade of Rama fighting Ravana. |
| Clockwise circumambulation | Worshippers walked clockwise around the tower body, keeping the sanctuary on their right. | Continuous bands of human, monkey, and animal reliefs running around the base. |
| Guarding the sacred precinct | Sacred animals and guardian figures were set on the walls and base to protect the shrine. | Terracotta and sandstone figures of Naga serpents, Garuda birds, and flying warriors. |
About 5.4 kilometers from Khương Mỹ stands Tam Kỳ Temple of Literature, a Vietnamese Confucian shrine. Though close to each other, the two sites belong to completely different traditions and should be read separately.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Thôn Khương Mỹ, xã Tam Xuân (xã Tam Xuân I cũ, huyện Núi Thành cũ, tỉnh Quảng Nam cũ), thành phố Đà Nẵng. Nghị quyết sắp xếp năm 2025 gộp Tam Xuân I, Tam Xuân II và Tam Tiến thành xã Tam Xuân
- Getting there
- Khương Mỹ village, Tam Xuân commune, Đà Nẵng city (formerly hamlet 4, Tam Xuân I commune, Núi Thành district, Quảng Nam province), about 200 meters west of National Highway 1A near Ốc Bridge on the Tam Kỳ bypass, and about 10 km southeast of Chiên Đàn Cham Towers.
- Coordinates
- 15.5479, 108.5056
This is an architectural monument that recently underwent conservation, so the rule of the site is to protect the wall surfaces. Visitors are expected not to touch the old carved brickwork, scratch or write on the bricks, or climb onto the tower bases. The plain brick patches mark stabilized sections and should not be pried or tested. Those who wish to light incense are asked to use the designated holder rather than wedging sticks into brick joints.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
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?Quick Questions
Who is worshiped at Khương Mỹ Cham Towers
Sources give two interpretations. A common explanation cited by the Vietnam News Agency states that the three towers honor the Trimurti, with the South Tower for Vishnu, the Central Tower for Shiva, and the North Tower for Brahma. Meanwhile, studies in Di sản Văn hóa journal and Đắk Lắk newspaper note that the sculptures found here (four-armed Vishnu, Krishna lifting Mount Govardhana, and Ramayana scenes) belong to Vaishnavism while images of Shiva and Brahma are absent, leading many scholars to view the entire complex as a sanctuary for Vishnu.
What is the Khương Mỹ style
It is an early 10th-century phase in Champa art named after this very tower group. Standing in transition after the Đồng Dương style toward the Mỹ Sơn A1 style (and Trà Kiệu sculpture) with several Khmer decorative motifs, it is recognized by five pilasters per wall carved with S-scrolls, layered arched false doors, and brick walls richly covered with ornament.
When were the Khương Mỹ Cham Towers built
No inscription records the founding year, and its late 9th to early 10th century date is determined by artistic style. According to H. Parmentier, the South Tower was built first, followed by the North Tower and finally the Central Tower. The complex was ranked as a national architectural and artistic heritage site under Decision No. 100-VH/QĐ on 21 January 1989.
Why do parts of Khương Mỹ Cham Towers have plain bricks without carvings after restoration
According to Thanh Niên newspaper, during the conservation project completed in December 2022, the Department of Cultural Heritage required preserving all surviving original carvings while using flat bricks where ornament had been lost, because there was not enough documentation for accurate reconstruction and newly invented carvings would be historical fakes.
Where are the Khương Mỹ Cham Towers located
In Khương Mỹ village, Tam Xuân commune, Đà Nẵng city, about 200 meters west of National Highway 1A near Ốc Bridge. Under the former administrative boundaries this was Tam Xuân I commune, Núi Thành district, Quảng Nam province, which merged with Tam Xuân II and Tam Tiến in 2025 to form Tam Xuân commune.