21/01/2025
Wat Xieng Thong is one of the most beautiful monasteries considered as the architectural gem of Luang Prabang, which has been praised by archaeologists as a symbol of the ancient and traditional Lao architecture. Wat Xieng Thong has a total area of 291.12 square meters that is situated on an embankment above the Mekong River near the juncture with the Nam Khan or Khan River. The reason why it is called Wat Xieng Thong is because: in the past, this temple had a large golden tree measuring from a circumference of 27 fathoms and a height of 117 meters. The word “Thong” (or gold) comes from the name of a golden tree that is a big tree in this temple.
After King Sayasetthathirath founded Wat Xieng Thong in 1560, he went to Vientiane and built Pha That Luang. The building of Wat Xieng Thong resembles hen-covering chicks in appearance. The temple has a sweeping three-tiered rood and four lotus flower pillars at the entrance, with a different name for each lotus flower pillar such as Maholy, Sisattanark, Sadtasin and Konlavon.
Shortly after the construction of the temple, King Sayasetthathirath moved the country's capital to Vientiane, and the temple was further patronized by King Sisavang Vong and King Sisavang Vattana, who were the last two monarchs of Laos.
There are also colorful glass mosaics on the monasteries and the area around the temple depicting scenes of a daily life of the Luang Prabang people. Moreover, there is a large ancient building that houses the funeral chariot and cremation urns of royal family of King Sisavang Vattana, which is carved and gilded with lacquer.
Chanthaphanit, a traditional Lao folktale, has it that King Sayasetthathirath built Wat Xieng Thong that was the only lucky temple to survive from the burnings during the war of 1887 and was restored four times: the first time in 1928, the second time between 1952 and 1960, the third time in 1984 during the reign of King Sisavang Vong, and the fourth time in 2013. The chapel of the temple has a central nave or hall and two side aisles franking the nave, with one roof top, and demonstrates special features with matching patterns. Its roof with a sweeping curvature that rises elegantly at the finials of the roof. The last major restoration was primarily aimed at the decoration and construction of the main shrine of the funerary urns, which began in 1962.
The Chariot Hall or Royal Funerary Chariot Hall was built in 1962 three years after the death of King Sisavang Vattana, which houses the funeral carriage of the recent Lao monarchs. The funeral carriage has three urns. The large urn in the middle contains the ashes of King Sisavang Vattana, the last monarch of Laos. The urn at the front contains the ashes of his father and mother, and the one at the back contains the ashes of his brothers. The funeral carriage was carved and gilded golden teak wood panels, and decorated with seven large Naga snakes at the front.
When arriving in this temple, a monastery called “sim” is the first thing to visit, which is not too big but shows the unique religious architecture of Luang Prabang style with a low sweeping three-tiered roof topped by a beautiful seventeen-segment Dok So Fa, symbolic of royal patronage, reaching toward the heavens. If the sim were built by common people, its rooftop would be decorated only with a one to seven-segment Dok So Fa. Legend has it that a small square box in the middle of Dok So Fa used to store valuable objects such as the Buddha image, and the front part is called “Ngo” in the shape of Naga head as an ornament according to the teachings of the Buddha. When entering the front door of the sim, there have distinctive and outstanding architectures with exquisite and beautiful Lao carvings. The windows and interior walls are decorated with lacquer covered by gold leaves depicting the history of Buddhism Thao Sithon, the Buddha with 10 reincarnation lives and the tales of the neighbors and when looking deeply, it would be seen the main Buddha statue called “Ong Luang”. Apart from the sim of Wat Xieng Thong decorated with distinctive architectures of Lane Xang style, its interior wall also has the beautiful decoration and stenciling. The rear of sim is adorned with stained glass cut into the shape of a big Bodhi tree. The side is shaped like animals in the literature, and when the sun shines down in the afternoon, it will look beautiful and glistering. Next to the side and rear of the sim is located two small chapels, and the highlight of the facade of each chapel is that the exterior walls are decorated with stained glass cut into small pieces and then put together in various shapes depicting folktales, which look impressive as a style of Luang Prabang. The small chapel next to the sim, known as the “Red Chapel”, is a chapel of Reclining Buddha image. The reclining Buddha image is beautifully lying on its right side with the right hand supporting the head. The figure was taken to Paris, France in 1931 for the exposition, and then was placed in Vientiane for several decades before being returned to Luang Prabang in 1964. The chapel behind the sim is “Ho Pha Marn”, is the Chapel of the Standing Buddha or “Pha Marn”, and is similar in stance to that of the sacred “Pha Bang”, in which many people mistakenly think that it is the same statue. There is a ceremonial washing of Pha Marn for worshipping. The interior rear of the chapel is decorated with stained glasses depicting the story of a people’s way of life, founded in 1950 to celebrate the world entering into the semi-Buddhist era. At the back of the chapel is a stupa of King Sisavang Vong where to keep the bone of King Sisavang Vong. On the southeast side, next to the fence, there is a boat shelter near the bank of the Mekong River. The front of the sim is a place of the drum tower (Ho Kong) with a beautiful stenciling of lacquer and gold leaves on the pillars. Furthermore, when walking into the area of Wat Xieng Thong on the right of the entry from Thanon Phothisarath, there is a magnificent and ancient hall with carved and gilded surfaces. This big hall is named as “the Carriage House” or Royal Funerary Chariot Hall, which was built to house and preserve the funeral carriage of King Sisavang Vong died in 1959 and his dynastic family. The construction of this House commenced in 1962. The interior has a large hall with vertical walls, and the base can be removed in order to enable the chariot to move out of the Hall. The central area of the Carriage House is the gilded wooden royal carriage containing three ornate gilded sandalwood funerary urns that included the remains of King Sisavang Vong in center, the remains of the king’s mother in front and the remains of the king’s old brother in the rear. The Carriage House was designed by Chao Manivong and carved by a master craftsman of Luang Prabang named “Phiatanh” who worked for the Royal Palace and was considered as a master craftsman of King Sisavang Vatthana. This craftsman specialized in paintings and carvings. Another highlight of the Carriage House is the exterior side walls that “Phiatanh” beautifully carved and gilded recounting the Lao version of the story of the Phalak Phalam with important episodes. The top is the episode on “Phi Phek” depicting the secret “story” where the hearts of Thotsakan, Phalak Phalam and Nang Sida were hid. Next to this is the episode about Thotsakan was stabbed in the heart with an arrow of Phalam. These carvings were originally a beautiful form of gilding, which later restored by painting is in gold as seen today. There are also the Sangha area within Wat Xieng Thong consisting of the abodes for monks and novices (kuti), stupas like other temples, and a number of monks and novices.
Size, design, decoration and patterns
Ho Pha Sieng Thaiy has a three-tiered roof, four-headed Naga finials, 18 brackets, a door facing north, and two windows facing east and west.
Ho Pha Marn has a double-tiered roof, two-headed Naga finials, and 16 brackets.
Ho Tai Yai (Tripitaka Library) has four-headed Naga finials with currently one broken on the facade of Ho Tai Yai.
he pillars in the sim adorned with gilded floral patterns (Dok Soy Sa Teen Fa).
The external beams of the sim are decorated with floral (Dok Khan, Dok Kheu, Dok Chanh) gildings.
The wooden roof top is decorated with paintings of flora (Dok Song Ka Bin and mall sunflowers).
The facade of the sim has 14 small pillars and 78 wooden fences decorated with floral (Dok Sone) stenciling.
The main entry door of the sim has a 7-tiered top, 2 sets of wooden beams with the lower set having 4 beams and the upper set having 5 beams, 1 wooden roof top.
The front pillars and the exterior walls of Ladsakod are painted with a mix of Thepphanom patterns and floral (Dok Jieng) stenciling.
The ceiling of Ladsakod is painted with floral (Dok Kong Chak) stenciling.
The sim is 6.80 meters wide, 22.40 meters long and 15.30 meters high.
The meaning of the seventeen-segment gilded “Dok So Fa” of Wat Xieng Thong
The gilded “Dok So Fa” at the center of the ridge post of the sim is a kind of celestial bouquet reaching toward the heavens, which is a belief in the Buddhist history such as Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta as a Buddhist text considered by Buddhists to be a record of the first sermon given by the Buddha. The Buddha preached this text to five ascetics, which told a time when the Buddha practiced to avoid the two extremes of practical life (sensual indulgence and self-mortification), and practiced the middle path as the right course of action for humanity. This text also contains the steps and practices to reach the Four Noble Truths in order to carry out the steps on practice and understanding of suffering, origin of suffering, cessation of suffering and way leading to the cessation of suffering, which lead to Nirvana as the highest goal and target of Buddhism. Reaching Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta would have opened the eye of the Dhamma, which could see the fifteen levels of Hell and sixteen levels of the Heavens.
Therefore, the ancient Lao people considered this level as a high level (16 levels of sky and 15 levels of earth) and practiced by building Dok So Fa at the center of the ridge post according to the Buddha’s teachings in order to achieve the goal of Buddhism and attain enlightenment leading to the heavens, especially to the highest level of the heavens as the Trayastrimsa heaven.
Guida turistica per il Laos e per la creazione di viaggi personalizzati. Guida Turistica Italiana (e Sp****la) per il Laos con base a Luang Prabang
