GENERAL THEORETICAL PLAN OF A CHAM TEMPLE

 

 

 

 

The main temple, “kalan” in Cham, is surrounded by towers and ancillary structures, inside an enclosure wall. It usually opens toward the rising sun; that is to say the east (except at My Son where some kalans open to the west while, still at My Son, the famous A1 kalan opens to both the east and the west.

In Cham architecture, secondary towers with their curved roofs shaped like boats, are very typical of the architecture of South-east Asia, as at My Son or Po Klong Garai.