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Luang Prabang Temples

November 2008

Luang Prabang has been a center of Buddhist learning and worship for many centuries. Its small central area is packed with no fewer than 15 Buddhist monasteries (wats), some dating back to the 1500s. They're places of beautiful (or sometimes gaudy) architecture, where orange-robed monks live a simple life of prayer, meditation, and study, and where poor boys can find a temporary home while they get an education.

One of the prettiest of the 15 or so wats in downtown Luang Prabang, Wat Nong Sikhounmuang

Roof tiles are meant to look like the scales of a naga

Stenciling is a common decorative feature of wats in Luang Prabang

Wat Sensoukharam

Monks studying outside their dorm at Wat Sensoukharam

A triple Buddha

A traditional metal bell and wooden drum used to call the monks to prayer

Wat Xiengthong, at the end of Lunag Prabang's peninsula, is a former royal temple where Lao kings were crowned. It remains an important monastery.

Built in the 1500s, it was one of only two wats left undamaged by Chinese bandits who invaded in 1887

When we visited, some of the doors were being regilded

Colored glass mosaics are everywhere at Wat Xiengthong

This mosaic on the back wall of the main temple depicts a tree of life

Other glass mosaics depict scenes from Lao folk tails and daily life, such as planting rice . . .

. . . and harvesting rice

This rare reclining Buddha was carved in the 1500s