Po Nagar Cham Towers

In the middle of modern Nha Trang, one hill stands apart from the city. On top of it rise towers of deep red brick, their tops curving up into the sky. They are not new, and they are not there for decoration. This is Tháp Bà Ponagar, one of the most beautiful ancient Cham monuments left in Vietnam.

The hill is called Cù Lao Hill. From up here, the Cái River curves along below, and Xóm Bóng Bridge spans the water. Behind, the whole lively city by the sea spreads out. It feels very strange. A monument a thousand years old stands in the middle of a seaside city. Yet that is exactly what makes Tháp Bà special.

Understanding this place means going back more than 1,200 years. In Cham history, the land of present-day Khánh Hòa was called Kauthara. It was one of the important regions of the Kingdom of Champa. From the middle of the 8th century to the 13th, the Cham built a religious center here. They raised it to worship the goddess Ponagar, the Mother Goddess of their land.

The whole site covers more than 17,000 square meters. It sits on a hill about 20 meters above sea level. The spot was chosen with great care. It looks out to the sea and down on the river, close to a hub of trade by water. It is also high enough for communities far away to see the towers rising against the sky.

The complex is laid out in three levels of space, rising from low to high.

The first level is the gate and the surrounding wall. It marks the boundary between the world outside and the sacred space within.

The second level is the Mandapa, a front hall. Here you will see 22 octagonal pillars standing in rows. The Mandapa was where people prepared for the rites. Worshippers of old did not walk straight into the main shrine. They passed through one level after another, slowing their steps and growing calmer as they went. The space seems to change little by little, from the noise outside to the quiet within, from everyday life to the sacred.

Only then does the path reach the third level, where four towers stand. Seen from a distance, the Northeast Tower rises highest, a full 23 meters tall. This is the main tower, and it is dedicated to the goddess Ponagar. In everyday speech, people in Nha Trang call this place Tháp Bà, the Lady's Tower. The name comes from this very tower. It was first built in the 8th century and rebuilt in the 11th. So the tower in front of you has been standing here for about 1,000 years.

The other three towers honor other gods. The South Tower honors Shiva. The Southeast Tower honors Skanda, the Hindu god of war and a son of Shiva. The Northwest Tower honors Ganesha. This last tower is still fairly intact in its architecture and decoration. It stands about 9 meters tall.

Something remarkable happened when the Vietnamese came to settle in this region. The story of the goddess Ponagar was not erased. It was taken in and given a new form. The Vietnamese call her Thiên Y A Na Thánh Mẫu. They wove new legends around her, about the old couple Tiều, an agarwood tree and a sacred journey. When these tales are told on the tower grounds, they are best enjoyed as a beautiful layer of folk culture, not as proven history. The Cham worship the Mother of their land. The Vietnamese worship the Mother of their land too. Two peoples, two ways of telling, and one shared reverence.

Tháp Bà also has a corner that few visitors explore closely. It is the area of steles and inscriptions behind the main tower. Ponagar holds as many as 28 Cham inscriptions. Close beside them stands a stele composed by the scholar Phan Thanh Giản in 1856. There is also a stele from 1871. Another, from 1972, is written in today's Vietnamese alphabet. And a stele from 2010 introduces the site. Standing before these layered steles is like looking into a book of stone. It was written by many generations, in many languages, over many hundreds of years.

Official recognition came step by step. In 1979, the complex was ranked a national monument of architecture and art. In 2012, the Tháp Bà Ponagar Festival was recognized as national intangible cultural heritage. Then, only in early 2025, the site was raised to the rank of special national monument. This came under Decision 152 of the Prime Minister, signed on January 17. It is the highest rank in the system Vietnam uses to classify its historic sites.

Every year, from the 20th to the 23rd day of the third lunar month, the festival takes place here. It brings flower-offering dances, the múa bóng dance and the rites of Mother Goddess worship. At festival time, the monument is no longer still stone and brick. It becomes a cultural space, alive and breathing.

From the highest point of the complex, the Cái River and Xóm Bóng Bridge lie below. Beyond them, the whole city of Nha Trang stretches out. No other spot in the city offers this view. From here, it becomes clear why the Cham chose this very hill, between the river and the sea. Here they raised what was most sacred to them. More than a thousand years later, it still stands.