Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture, Da Nang

I loved it. Kids were bored. It's exactly what it says, an old school museum of ancient sculpture with small written plaques next to each saying what they are. As adults I found it interesting and helpful before we head to My Son, but it will not engage young kids for any length of time. It would be nice to see a bit more of the history of the Cham people used to contextualise the sculptures

Beautiful exterior architecture and garden, and spectacular Cham sculpture that is displayed well; however, the automatic motion sensor lighting at times presented unwelcome shadows. Folk craft displays are in need of better curation. Entrance: US$2.50

♿ Wheelchair-friendly place inside the Danang city. The car park entrance is not wheelchair accessible. Ask someone to help. Small area to travel and always keep someone to push your wheelchair.  Some Buildings are not wheelchair accessible but you can travel with someone's help. Big ramps were inside the building. Always travel with someone, who can help you. I really recommend it to wheelchair travelers. You have to spend full a day covering the museum. Always ask staff to help. Good toilets. Always use the google translate app to talk with them. Thanks

If you like historical artefacts, this is the place to go. The Cham minority group were wiped out by Vietnamese after their leader was offered the hand of a princess, then using the pretext that she was not well treated, the Vietnamese invaded the Cham Kingdom, including destroying their residences and temples. Indeed a sad tale but one which is really common across many countries. The museum is clean and quiet, the artefacts are not all whole, some are just feet, head without body, headless, etc. Fascinating that the Cham people worshipped Shiva the destroyer. His shrine is everywhere as well as Parvathy, his wife. The strong Indian influence is evident in the sculptures. The museum is located directly across the tail of the dragon Bridge. Heaps of restaurants and cafes along the opposite street.

This museum wasn't on my itinerary and instead I had planned to go to My Son to see the ruins. After visiting the museum, I recommend going here first. This historic building, one of the nicest in Da Nang in 1903, was built on the open field and park where My Son excavation team was unloading the massive sculptures they discovered in the various temples. The museum has some terrific old photos of the archeology process from the late 1800s. Many of the best statues of Siva, Buddha and other deities are in the museum, so you can see them up close. The museum has large posters with temple locations of the Cham people spread from Hue down to My Son, and showed how the architectural styles changed over 600 years. My future visit to the temple area (about 1 hour car ride from Da Nang) will be improved knowing which era the buildings are from. No entrance fee on the day I went. The old original museum building is deceptively small as you enter, a large two-story museum has been added at the back which holds most of the pieces.