LookAtVietnam – Tuy An District in the northern province of Phu Yen is known for its many beautiful landscapes, such as Da Dia Rock Reef and O Loan Lagoon.

A view of a rock house in Tuy An.

The Cham people used stone for many purposes. In 1990 a lithophone was discovered at Mot Mountain, Trung Luong Hamlet, An Nghiep Commune and identified as an ancient Vietnamese musical instrument dating back to the first century B.C. Later, a stone pan-pipe was unearthed in An Tho Commune, Tuy An District. Visitors to Tuy An are always amazed by the rock houses made from pieces of stone in natural shapes. The houses in Tuy An are all the same style, making a unique ancient architecture complex.

Those rocks are remnants of a volcano 300 million years ago. After millions of years of being shaped and broken by waves, the rocks have assumed diverse shapes, from flat to square, triangle, pentagonal, with black colors.

Locals use them as a unique material for building, holding them together without any bonding, like magnets. At first they were used to make shelters for cattle (buffalo, ox), then they made them into barriers and finally, recognizing the special qualities of the rocks, made them into houses.

On the road to An Ninh Tay and An Ninh Dong communes is a series of rock houses and rock barriers, with colorful flowers climbing up and winding around the structures, creating an endless aspiration for nature. That is the secret of Tuy An’s architecture.

VietNamNet/SGT