ĐÀ NẴNG — The Đà Nẵng Museum of Chăm Sculpture, in co-operation with the Southeast Asian Art Academic Programme, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, has launched a new book after a two-year project.

The English-language book, titled ‘Vibrancy in Stone – Masterpieces of the Đà Nẵng Museum of Chăm Sculpture’, provides a collection of high-quality photographs highlighting the museum’s attractions to mark its 100th anniversary.

Director Võ Văn Thắng said at the launch ceremony on Thursday that the museum plans to translate the publication into Vietnamese for local residents and domestic visitors.

Thắng said the book was made with contributions from both Vietnamese and foreign scholars, photographers and the River Books Publishing House in Thailand, which designed and printed it.

He said Dr Peter Sharrock, Outreach Manager of the Southeast Asian Art Academic Programme of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and Thailand’s Narisa Chakrabongse, Paisarn Piammattawat and Vietnamese scholar Trần Kỳ Phương, have worked with the museum since 2015 to compile and complete the catalogue.

The Museum of Chăm Sculpture, situated on the west side of the Hàn River, was built in late 1915 with a big contribution of Henri Parmentier, a prominent archaeologist with the L’EÙcole Francaise d’Extreâme Orient (the Far East Archaeological Research Institute) in Hà Nội 1930s.

In mid-1919, Henri Parmentier published the first catalogue of the museum, marking its inaugural ceremony. It contained descriptions of the art and styles of Champa sculpture. (The Champa Kingdom ruled in the central coastal region between the 4th and 13th centuries).

The museum, a favoured tourist destination in the city, with 200,000 visitors annually, preserves and display thousands of artefacts and sandstone statues found in many Chăm tower foundations, as well as ceramic fragments from the Sa Huỳnh Culture (between 2,500 and 3,000 years old) in the central region. — VNS