Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
graphy symbolic of the defunct Lao monarchy was chipped away so the communists could
feel more comfortable with this behemoth reminder of the detested royalists in their midst.
Patouxai is best visited in the early morning before the structure has had time to absorb
much heat from the sun's rays. A handful of vendors selling souvenirs and refreshments are
sheltered by a ceiling adorned with
reliefs
of the Hindu deities - Rahu devouring the sun,
Vishnu, Brahma, and Indra on Airavata, the three-headed elephant. Decorating the walls just
below the ceiling are characters from the Ramayana. Up close, the structure looks somewhat
crude and unfinished, but the
view
of Vientiane from the top is worth the climb. Halfway
up, in a poorly lit two-storey hallway, there's a market selling textiles, T-shirts and tourist
trinkets.
That Luang
Around 4km northeast of Nam Phou, off Nongbone Rd ∙ Daily except public holidays 8am-noon & 1-4pm ∙
5000K ∙ To reach the stupa from the centre, flag down a sawngthaew heading north along Lane Xang Ave or
That Luang Rd (expect to pay 5000K per person)
Depicted on everything from banknotes to buildings, the Buddhist stupa
That Luang
is the
most important religious building in Laos, and the country's national symbol. The present
building dates from the 1930s and is a reconstruction; the original That Luang is thought to
have been built by King Setthathilat in the mid-sixteenth century, and it is his statue that is
perched jauntily on a pedestal in front of the stupa.
Archeological evidence suggests that, like most central and southern Lao Buddhist struc-
tures of significance, That Luang was built on top of an ancient Khmer site. What the original
Buddhist stupa looked like is a mystery, but a Dutch trader, Gerritt van Wuysthoff, who vis-
ited Vientiane in 1641, left an awestruck account of the gold-covered “pyramid” he saw there.
Between then and the early nineteenth century, the stupa was embellished and restored peri-
odically, but this ceased after the 1828 Siamese raid which left the capital deserted. When
French explorers Francis Garnier and Louis Delaporte stumbled upon That Luang in 1867,
it was overgrown by jungle, but still largely intact. A few years later, Chinese-led bandits
plundered the stupa looking for gold, and left it a pile of rubble. A photo on display in the
National Museum, taken in the late 1800s to commemorate the visit of a group of Frenchmen,
gives some indication of the extent of the devastation.
A French attempt at
restoration
was made in 1900, after which the stupa was disparagingly
referred to as the “Morin Spike”, a snipe at the architect, whose idea of a Buddhist stupa re-
sembled a railroad spike turned on its head. Dissatisfaction with the design eventually led to
another attempt in the 1930s. Using sketches done by Delaporte as a model, a re-restoration
in brick and stucco was carried out over four years, and what you see today are the results of
this effort.
