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Duong Long tower |
The central province of Binh Dinh and the Vietnam Archaeology Institute are compiling necessary documents to submit to the government as the foundation to ask UNESCO to recognise the system of Cham towers in Binh Dinh as a world heritage site.
The Cham towers are unique religious architecture of Cham people. Binh Dinh has eight groups of Cham towers. Those towers are treasuries of history, culture and architecture for researchers to learn about the Vijaya areas in the ancient time and Binh Dinh at present.
Among Cham towers built in the central region, the architecture style of Cham towers in Binh Dinh is always praised by researchers. In 1942, Ph. Stern ranked the architectural style of Cham towers in Binh Dinh at the sixth level in seven styles and one of the most popular styles from the 12th to the 14th centuries.
The community of Cham towers in Binh Dinh is nearly undamaged, and has records in Southeast Asia: The Duong Long tower in Tay Son district is the highest brick tower in Southeast Asia, with the middle tower of 39m and the two sub-towers of 36m each. Recently, another tower named Hon Chuong was found in Phu Cat District. This is the highest brick tower above sea level in Southeast Asia (600m).
Binh Dinh was the capital of the Viiaya dynasty, so apart from Cham tower, the province also owns relics of an ancient citadel which existed from the 10th to 15th centuries, which adds more value to the Cham tower relics.
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