Wat Xieng Thong, the Golden City Temple

At the tip of the peninsula, a sixteenth-century monastery with sweeping low roofs and a glittering mosaic tree has become the very image of Luang Prabang.

Area

Old town

Start from

Tip of the old town peninsula

Distance

walking distance

Time needed

half a day

Best season

All year; early morning or late afternoon

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

On foot or by bicycle

Tickets & rules

Small entry ticket; cover shoulders and knees, remove shoes in the halls

Why go

If you see only one temple in Laos, many people would say it should be this one. Wat Xieng Thong stands near the point where the Nam Khan flows into the Mekong, and its main hall, the sim, has the most famous silhouette in the country: layer upon layer of roofs sweeping down almost to the ground, like the wings of a bird settling on its nest.

Walk around to the back of the sim and you find the second reason to come: a great tree of life picked out in coloured glass mosaic on a deep red wall, its branches full of birds and small creatures. The smaller chapels around the courtyard are covered with similar mosaics showing village life, legends and animals, and they reward slow looking.

It is also simply a lovely place to sit. Novices sweep the courtyard, practise chanting in the late afternoon and hang their robes to dry in the sun. Come early, before the tour vans, and the compound feels like what it still is: a working monastery, not a museum.

The story

The temple was founded around 1559–1560 by King Setthathirath, one of the great rulers of the Lao kingdom of Lane Xang, ‘the kingdom of a million elephants’. Shortly afterwards he moved his capital south to Vientiane, but Luang Prabang remained the royal and religious heart of the north, and Wat Xieng Thong became the temple of coronations and royal ceremonies.

Remarkably, it was one of the few monasteries spared when bands of Chinese ‘Black Flag’ marauders sacked the town in 1887. The story told locally is that their leader had studied here as a young man and ordered it left alone. Whatever the truth, the result is that this is one of the oldest and best-preserved temple compounds in the country.

Look for the funeral carriage hall near the eastern gate. Inside stands a towering gilded royal hearse, decorated with seven-headed naga serpents, built for the funeral of King Sisavang Vong, who died in 1959. The carved doors of the hall are themselves extraordinary, with scenes from the Ramayana in deep gilded relief, some of them distinctly earthy.

The small ‘red chapel’ behind the sim holds a rare reclining Buddha, cast in bronze and much admired by scholars; its outer walls glow with mosaics added in the twentieth century to mark the 2,500th anniversary of the Buddha’s passing, celebrated in Laos in 1957.

Getting there

Walk or cycle north-east along Sakkaline Road to the very end of the peninsula; the temple is about fifteen minutes on foot from the night market area. There is an entrance from the main road and another from the Mekong side, reached by stairs up from the river.

Bicycles can be left outside the gates.

A suggested plan

1. 8:00Arrive soon after opening, buy a ticket and start with the main sim and its mosaic tree.
2. 8:45Visit the red chapel and the funeral carriage hall, taking time over the carved doors.
3. 9:30Sit in the shade of the courtyard while novices go about their morning chores.
4. 10:00Walk down the stairs to the Mekong side and along the river to the point where the two rivers meet.
5. 10:30Coffee on one of the riverside terraces, then continue on the peninsula temple walk.

Where to stay

The guesthouses on the lanes between Wat Xieng Thong and Wat Sene are the quietest part of the old town and put this temple a few minutes away.

Good to know

• Morning light falls on the front of the sim; the mosaic tree at the back is best in mid to late afternoon.
• Carry a sarong or light trousers; you will be turned away in shorts.
• Look up at the stencilled gold patterns on the black ceiling inside the main hall.
• Check opening hours on arrival; they can shorten around ceremonies.