Art of Champa

Champa was an Southeast Asian civilization that flourished along the coasts of what is now central and southern Vietnam for roughly a one thousand-year period between 500 and 1700 AD. The original Cham and Proto-Chamic peoples were mainland Austronesian sailors, who adopted as their principal vocations those of trade, shipping, and piracy. Their cities were ports of call on important trade routes linking India, China and the Indonesian islands. The history of Champa was one of intermittent conflict and cooperation with the people of Java, the Khmer of Angkor in Cambodia and Đại Việt (Annam) of the Vietnamese in what is now northern Vietnam. It was to Dai Viet that Champa finally lost its independence.

The architecture of the Indian rock-cut temples, particularly the sculptures, were perhaps widely influenced by or similar with South Indian, and Indianized architecture of neighboring Cambodian and Javanese temples.^[1][2][3][4] The artistic legacy of Champa consists primarily of sandstone sculptures - both sculpture in the round and relief sculpture - and brick buildings. Some metal statues and decorative items have also survived. Much of the remaining art expresses religious themes, and though some pieces would have been purely decorative, others would have served important functions in the religious life of the Chams, which synthesized elements of Hinduism (especially Saivism), Buddhism and indigenous cults.

This artistic legacy has been decimated by neglect, war, and vandalism. Much of the damage has been done in the 20th century. Some French scholars such as Henri Parmentier and Jean Boisselier were able to take photographs, create drawings, and pen descriptions of works which have been destroyed in the meantime. Neglect continues to endanger the legacy of Champa to this day, especially the neglect of the inscribed stone steles, the source of much valuable information on the history of Champa. The participants in the Vietnam War wrought their share of devastation, wiping out for example the vestiges of the Buddhist monastery at Dong Duong (Quảng Nam).^[5] Willful vandalism and pilfering are an ongoing concern.

The largest collection of Cham art is on exhibit at the Museum of Cham Sculpture in Da Nang. Substantial collections are housed in the Guimet Museum in Paris, the Museum of Vietnamese History in Saigon, and the Museum of History in Hanoi. Smaller collections may be found in the Museum of Fine Arts in Saigon and the Museum of Fine Arts in Hanoi.