Description of the attraction
The visiting card of Laos, the Pha Thatluang Buddhist stupa, imprinted on its coat of arms, is located in the capital of this country, Vientiane, a few kilometers from the historic center. Tourists are not allowed into the middle of the temple. They can only wander around the courtyard. You can get into it through the main gate, set in a high fence that surrounds the entire Thatluang temple complex. The courtyard contains many interesting statues and small stupas, including monuments to the kings of Laos. In front of the complex there is a monument to the founder of this temple - King Sethathirat.
Thatluang Temple, also called the Great Stupa, has three parts. The first part is the foundation. It symbolizes the earthly world. Prayer halls adjoin it, with staircases leading to the second floor. A square hall with sides of 48 meters on the second floor is decorated with small stupas. A stupa, 45 meters high, rests on these two bases. It is made of bricks and covered with gold plates.
In Vientiane there is a legend according to which the Thatluang stupa was laid more than 23 centuries ago by the Indians, who brought a relic of Buddha to the territory of present-day Laos - his bone. But architectural research refutes this theory. Before the construction of the Big Stupa, there was a monastery built in the 12th century.
The temple complex in its modern form appeared in the 16th century. At that time, Vientiane became the capital of Laos, which means that it should have had its own large Buddhist temple. The Pha Thatluang stupa was plundered several times, but was restored by the French colonialists at the beginning of the 20th century.
