After a very enjoyable and photogenic tour of Hoi An, we returned to Da Nang and stopped at Xuat Ahn marble factory at the foot of Marble Mountain.

From the website: https://hiddenhoian.com/see-and-do/marble-mountains/
The Marble Mountains dominate the plain-like landscape along the coast road between Hoi An and Danang. On the way from the airport, you can’t help but notice them looming in the distance and jutting up dramatically from the flat earth. Their intrigue continues as you get closer and see the scores of magnificent marble carvings of lions, Buddha, and other statues. Everything you could imagine being carved from marble surrounds them. You will also no doubt do a double-take as you see the somewhat awkward-looking great glass elevator protruding from their side.

The Marble Mountains are a group of five limestone and marble hills in Ngu Hanh Son District. They are one of the most popular day trips from Hoi An, situated just 20 kilometres north of the city. The mountains’ sheer, porous limestone is punctuated by caves and tunnels, which are fitted with spectacular Buddhist and Hindu shrines. Of the five mountains, only Mt. Thuy is accessible to tourists. It has the highest summit and a stunning, panoramic view of the coast, Da Nang, and the other Marble Mountains.

The cluster of limestone outcrops that make up the Marble Mountains were initially sacred sites worshipped by the Cham peoples of Central and Southern Vietnam. However, the mountains are not massive in comparison to some of Vietnam’s northern ranges. But they are impressive in relation to the flat central floodplains of the surrounding countryside. So it is easy to see why they cast an attractive spell on the Cham. They also contain a myriad of cave networks and tunnels that the Cham recognised as holy places.

In the centuries since the Champa Empire, Buddhist followers have built shrines and temples at the summits of the mountains and in the caves below them. Therefore the Marble Mountains and their shrines within, continue to lure visitors to this day to enjoy their expansive views, wander their intricate caves and be swept up in their history.

In 1825, centuries after the decline of the Cham Empire, the Vietnamese King Minh Mang, named the mountains “Ngu Hanh Son”—The Five Element Mountains. Each mountain is named after one of the five essential elements in Eastern Philosophical thought: Kim (metal), Tho (earth), Moc (wood), Hoa (fire), and Thuy (water). Together, the mountains were a spiritual destination for both the Vietnamese aristocracy and Mahayana Buddhists. So over the years, Buddhist followers constructed the sanctuaries that you see today.

However, during the French colonial period, French geologists realized the mountains were comprised of marble and re-named them the “Marble Mountains.” The French name stuck, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Recent History of Marble Mountains
Above all, through a history that was in turns peaceful and turbulent, this sacred site has served as a refuge for generations of Vietnamese. During the French Colonial War, the Huyen Khong Cave served as a secret command post for the local revolutionaries and a forward base from which they could stage guerrilla assaults. However, when the Americans invaded, they and the Southern Vietnamese government used the cave as a garrison. The caves riddled through the Marble Mountains, as a training venue for marines.

In 1968, American forces were attacked and driven out of Marble Mountains by the People’s Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF, or the Viet Cong). Simultaneous assaults on the Mountains and nearby American air force bases successfully returned the caves to Communist control. The PLAF then established a secret field hospital in the Huyen Khong Cave. Here they tended wounded guerrillas and spied on American forces at nearby China Beach.

One reminder of this wartime history is a plaque dedicated to the PLAF Women’s Artillery Group hung on the cavern wall. In 1972, the women of this artillery unit destroyed 19 Marine aircraft parked at the Marble Mountain Air Facility, an American airfield at the base of the mountains. It’s an interesting juxtaposition; a testimonial to military success in the midst of holy Buddhist surroundings.

So walking into the cave’s interior, just imagine the difficult conditions the cave of Huyen Khong offered as a surgery unit. Therefore it’s possible that, despite the dark and testing conditions, the religious relics looking down into the cave’s interior provided some comfort for wounded soldiers. Today the cave has now returned to its peaceful origins attracting thousands of Vietnamese pilgrims every year.

However, despite weathering countless wars and uprisings, in the late 20th century, the Marble Mountains faced a different kind of threat to itself. The red, white, and green marble used by local carvers for tombstones, statues, and touristy knick-knacks sold in Da Nang and the surrounding beaches came from the large rock deposits in the mountains themselves. The sacred stone hills even supplied the building material for Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum in Hanoi.

Eventually, it was realized that quarrying marble from the mountains was unsustainable in the long run. Sadly the limitless consumption of stone from their reserves would reduce the towering hills to rubble. So, in order to maintain the mountains as a destination worth visiting, quarrying has recently stopped, ensuring the mountains’ longevity. Therefore today, local stonemasons and sculptors import their marble from other regions of Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

I hope you enjoy these!
Mark