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Vientiane
KNOWLEDGE OF Vientiane
Southeast Asia’s quiet backwater capital, Vientiane, unfolds over pot-holed roads, emerging through a haze of construction dust and flaming sunsets over the Mekong. To the careful observer, reminders of Vientiane’s complicated and colorful history abound. Streets filled with elaborate Buddhist temples, crumbling French colonial villas, modernist Soviet architecture and aid offices form the backdrop for a unique hybrid society of socialist kitsch, Western capitalism and a smattering of Thai pop culture.
Sitting on a quiet bend of the Mekong River, at the center of a vast, fertile, alluvial plain, Vientiane has been inhabited since the 10th century. Having been conquered and ruled repeatedly by the Khmer, Vietnamese, Burmese and Siamese, the meuang, or fiefdom, of Vientiane was drawn into the Lao kingdom of Lane Xang (one million elephants). In 1560 King Setthathirath moved the capital of his kingdom there from Luang Prabang and ordered the That Luang (Great Stupa) to be built in the east of the city at the site of a Khmer temple. Rebuilt on numerous occasions this stupa remains the central icon to Lao Buddhist life in Vientiane and a symbol of Lao sovereignty.
Unfortunately for Vientiane, this golden period of Lao history waned as the kingdom declined. A dramatic raid by the Siamese left Vientiane in ruin. The only monastery left standing in the city after the raid was Wat Sisaket, built in 1818 by King Chao Anou. This peaceful and charming temple is now the oldest monastery in Vientiane and home to a marvelous collection of Buddha images.
When the French arrived in the late 19th century they found Vientiane virtually abandoned. Nonetheless, it was selected over Luang Prabang to be the capital of the new colony, and once more Vientiane was reborn as a city. Much of the city seen today dates from this period. Never as important as the other French Indochinese capitals of Hanoi, Saigon and Phnom Penh, Vientiane lacks the grand buildings of these cities, but the French influence is still apparent in the peaceful Nam Phu Square and the recently restored National Library.
Following the Second World War, various Lao groups struggled for autonomy from the French and independence was finally achieved in 1953. As Laos was slowly drawn into the war in neighboring Vietnam, the 1960s and ‘70s were catastrophic for most of the country and earned Laos the unfortunate distinction of being the most heavily bombed nation per capita in the history of warfare. However, the war had a very different effect on the city of Vientiane.
Sitting on a quiet bend of the Mekong River, at the center of a vast, fertile, alluvial plain, Vientiane has been inhabited since the 10th century. Having been conquered and ruled repeatedly by the Khmer, Vietnamese, Burmese and Siamese, the meuang, or fiefdom, of Vientiane was drawn into the Lao kingdom of Lane Xang (one million elephants). In 1560 King Setthathirath moved the capital of his kingdom there from Luang Prabang and ordered the That Luang (Great Stupa) to be built in the east of the city at the site of a Khmer temple. Rebuilt on numerous occasions this stupa remains the central icon to Lao Buddhist life in Vientiane and a symbol of Lao sovereignty.
Unfortunately for Vientiane, this golden period of Lao history waned as the kingdom declined. A dramatic raid by the Siamese left Vientiane in ruin. The only monastery left standing in the city after the raid was Wat Sisaket, built in 1818 by King Chao Anou. This peaceful and charming temple is now the oldest monastery in Vientiane and home to a marvelous collection of Buddha images.
When the French arrived in the late 19th century they found Vientiane virtually abandoned. Nonetheless, it was selected over Luang Prabang to be the capital of the new colony, and once more Vientiane was reborn as a city. Much of the city seen today dates from this period. Never as important as the other French Indochinese capitals of Hanoi, Saigon and Phnom Penh, Vientiane lacks the grand buildings of these cities, but the French influence is still apparent in the peaceful Nam Phu Square and the recently restored National Library.
Following the Second World War, various Lao groups struggled for autonomy from the French and independence was finally achieved in 1953. As Laos was slowly drawn into the war in neighboring Vietnam, the 1960s and ‘70s were catastrophic for most of the country and earned Laos the unfortunate distinction of being the most heavily bombed nation per capita in the history of warfare. However, the war had a very different effect on the city of Vientiane.
Chapi