Go Ut Tranh is a high mound with a large area located on the eastern slope of Ba The mountain, in the core area of Oc Eo - Ba The Complex. The topography of the site is characterized by a peak running in the north-south direction and gradually decreasing to the east. The site is about 400m from in Linh Son Tu site to the south, about 100m from the Baray lake site to the west. In the 2018, survey and fieldwork of the Management Board of Oc Eo Cultural Sites, it was determined that the surrounding areas of the site have a dense distribution of other relics.
The site was discovered in September 2010 by experts from the Archaeological Center of Ho Chi Minh City and was excavated for the first time from July to September 2011, discovered architectural ruins of 03 Hindu temples of residents of Oc Eo culture. In 2019, according to the project of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, aiming to excavate, research and develop scientific documents for the world heritage records, the Archaeological Center of Ho Chi Minh City continued to open excavation pits in the western area of the site, discovered a brick architectural line running along the north-south direction to the west of the temples. After finishing the excavation, the Archaeological Center of Ho Chi Minh City has carried out to preserve architectural site. By 2021, the Management Board of Oc Eo Cultural Relics will re-excavate the entire architecture of Go Ut Tranh site for the purpose of building a roof to protect, display and promote the value of the heritage.
Go Ut Tranh site has about 650m2 of an area, the overall plan of the site includes 03 main architectures of 03 temples located on the North-South axis built to worship the 03 supreme gods in the Hindu religion of Oc Eo cultural inhabitants. The southern temple is the temple of Vishnu – the god of preservation; The central temple in the Center is the temple of Shiva – the god of destruction and rebirth; The northern temple is dedicated to Brahma, the god of creation. All three temples are built on a stone floor architecture, in front of the site, there is the foyer with 03 different architectural models. Around the three temples in the three directions of West - North – South, it is a surrounding architecture built of bricks on stone foundations.
In the center of the southern temple dedicated to Vishnu, we can see the structure of a pit. This is a popular typical architectural style and is the most sacred place in the temples of Hindu gods of the ancient Oc Eo residents. The structure of the worship pit consists of a square brick structure built by making up to 01 horizontal brick for every 2 bricks; The area of the worshiping hole is 2.85 x 2.85m, the surface is compacted with fine sand. The center of the altar is a brick structure arranged by 04 bricks in the shape of a swastika commonly known as the Seima Pillar, in the middle of the Seima Pillar is a square filled with fine sand; This brick architecture has dimensions of 0.37 x 0.37m. Bricks used to build worship pits are 0.25 x 0.11m in size. In the central position of the temples of Shiva and Brahma, there are also these pits, but due to the destruction of time, they are no longer identifiable as in the temple of Vishnu.
Go Ut Tranh site is an architectural system built with mixed materials of brick - stone. This is one of the most intact architectural monuments of the Oc Eo - Ba The complex and a rare temple in the system of Oc Eo cultural sites in the South of Viet Nam when it was built to worship all three of the supreme deity of Hinduism in the same space. Therefore, this is a typical site with great value in the research, preservation and promotion of the value of the Oc Eo cultural heritage.
