Items displayed at the  Open Warehouse of the Cham Royal Heritage Collection (Viet Thanh/ VNA)

The Open Warehouse of the Cham Royal Heritage Collection is in the house of Nguyen Thi Them, a descendent of the Cham royal family in Tinh My village, Phan Thanh commune, Bac Binh district.

The collection consists of more than 100 artifacts, divided into 8 groups: crowns of the kings and queens, weapons, musical instruments, worship objects, domestic and imported brocade fabrics, ceramics, paper, and wood.

This collection of Cham antiques has been kept intact for more than 400 years. The most valuable items are the crown set of King Po Klong Moh Nai and the gold hair bun of Queen Po Bia Som, which were made in the early 17th century.

The Cham Royal Heritage Collection is displayed in 2 areas. One area displays precious artifacts which have great religious and material value. The other area displays costumes of the Cham Kings and mandarins since the 17th century and royal decrees of the Nguyen Dynasty, documents in Chinese and Cham characters.

Doan Van Thuan, Director of the Binh Thuan Museum, said: “The museum will help the family continue to preserve and display this heritage collection. We hope the local administration will do more to promote Cham history.”

Visitors at the Open Warehouse of the Cham Royal Cultural Heritage Collection (photo: Nguyen Thanh/ VNA)

The Open Warehouse of the Cham Royal Cultural Heritage Collection will connect Bac Binh district with the province’s tours of cultural heritages to help promote the local tourism. This is part of the project “Preserving and promoting cultural traditions of ethnic minority groups in association with tourism development” of the National Target Program.

Uc Viet Vong, Head of the Cham Culture Display Center, said the open warehouse will be a key tourism venue. “The Cham Culture Display Center will create a tourism map from the Center to the Cham Royal family, the open warehouse, and nearby ceramic villages and Cham towers such as Pô Klong Mo Nai and Po Nit. These destinations make a closed-loop day tour.”

Members of the Cham royal family will participate in training courses on tourism skills and operations. The Center will work with travel companies to build tours to promote and explore Cham cultural heritages.

Thuy Sy - Vinh Phong