Landmarks in Da Nang

Dragon Bridge

2013

Its steel superstructure forms an unbroken dragon shape, arch, beam and cable elements combined into one coiling body with a raised head, said to be the largest dragon-shaped steel bridge anywhere. It crosses the Hàn River in a single sinuous span rather than the usual repeated girders of a road bridge.

The Dragon Bridge is a road bridge carrying traffic across the Hàn River, opened in 2013. Its steel superstructure combines arch, beam and cable ("wire") elements built continuously into the form of a dragon, turning an ordinary river crossing into a sculptural structure. It is credited as the world's largest dragon-shaped steel bridge, a distinction based on the scale of steelwork forming the creature's body rather than the bridge's overall length or span.

• It is credited as the world's largest dragon-shaped steel bridge.

Photo: Bùi Thụy Đào Nguyên (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Da Nang Cathedral

1923

The available record does not describe the cathedral's facade, colour or materials — only that it was built in 1923 and serves as the seat of the local diocese.

Da Nang Cathedral is the cathedral of the Diocese of Da Nang. It was built in 1923, within the decades of French colonial administration in the city, which ran from 1884 to 1945, and it remains the diocese's seat today.

Photo: Dragfyre (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Museum of Cham Sculpture

1919 · M. Deleval and M. Auclair

Its 1919 building was designed to incorporate elements taken from Cham temple architecture directly into its structure, so the museum itself echoes the carved stone it was built to display.

The museum was first proposed in 1902 by the Department of Archaeology of EFEO, largely on the initiative of Henri Parmentier, and opened its first building in 1919 under the name Musée Henri Parmentier. French architects M. Deleval and M. Auclair designed it to incorporate elements drawn from Cham temple architecture. It houses sculpture gathered from sites across the region over the preceding decades. The collection outgrew the original building twice: new galleries were added in the mid-1930s, organised by the archaeological site each piece came from, and a further two-storey wing was added in 2002.

• It was proposed in 1902 but not founded until 1915, and its first building did not open until 1919 — a seventeen-year gap between idea and building.
• Its mid-1930s galleries were arranged by archaeological site of origin, covering finds from Mỹ Sơn, Trà Kiệu, Đồng Dương, Tháp Mẫm, Quảng Trị, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định and Kon Tum.

Photo: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France (CC BY 2.0)

Ngũ Hành Sơn

A cluster of five marble and limestone hills south of the city, each named for an element: metal, water, wood, fire and earth. Their caves and tunnels shelter several Buddhist sanctuaries, and the area is known for stone sculpture and stone-cutting crafts.

Hàn River Bridge

A cable-stayed swing bridge in the city center, the first bridge there both engineered and built by Vietnamese engineers, and Vietnam's only operating swing bridge. It swings open on its axis after midnight to let ships pass along the river, and lights up after dark.

Thuận Phước Bridge

A suspension bridge spanning the mouth of the Han River, 1,850 metres long with a 405-metre main span and two 80-metre towers. It is Vietnam's longest suspension bridge, built from 2003 and inaugurated on 19 July 2009 by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Zone 5 Military Museum

A military museum covering Vietnamese resistance to foreign occupation, from Chinese rule and the French Indochina War to the Vietnam War and today's dispute over the Spratly and Paracel Islands. It opens daily except Monday, free for Vietnamese and a small fee for foreigners.