The restoration of a recently-discovered ancient road in the central area of My Son World Cultural Heritage Complex, Quang Nam province, has been completed.
My Son heritage restoration completed
In April 2017, Indian and Vietnamese experts unexpectedly unearthed an ancient road and its side walls, which began at the foot of Temple K, also known as Thap Cong (Gate Tower) in My Son.
The length of the road still remains a mystery. Experts believe that the road may lead to a stage for religious ceremonies once held within the sanctuary. It is also thought that the road was reserved for royal members and religious dignitaries during these ceremonies.
More than 4,000 bricks taken from the ancient underground road along with some new hand-crafted bricks were used to re-build the two parallel side walls of the road. The walls, which are eight metres apart, are each 0.6m wide and 15m long.
The experts have also cleaned the body of Temple K and replaced the damaged bricks with those excavated from around the temple. They also used wooden bars to reinforce the tower to prevent it from falling under the impacts of the weather.
According to Head of the My Son World Heritage site Management Board Phan Ho, the reinforcement and restoration of K tower will be resumed in early 2018.
The restoration project has a total cost upwards of US$ 2.7 million, of which the Indian government has funded US$2.3 million.