hey im jus wondering how vientiane looked like if it was never sacked,plunderd burnt down to the ashes, destroyd like a number of times.
the lanxang dynasty had to have massive structures/monuments and other things you know im pretty sure with in the reign of lanxang tat luang wasnt the only magnificent structure the lao people built.
i wish i had a time machine to see what laos, vientiane looked like at its peak.
hey im jus wondering how vientiane looked like if it was never sacked,plunderd burnt down to the ashes, destroyd like a number of times.
the lanxang dynasty had to have massive structures/monuments and other things you know im pretty sure with in the reign of lanxang tat luang wasnt the only magnificent structure the lao people built.
i wish i had a time machine to see what laos, vientiane looked like at its peak.
Well I think the former Royal Palace was where the current Presidential Palace is, since Ho Phra Keo was in its royal grounds.
Before 1828, Vientiane was said by a foreign embassador to Siam that the Lao capital was as big as Bangkok. It covered pretty much of today's Vientiane prefecture.
According to the first European to visit Laos, Gerrit van Wuystoff, 1642, said Vientiane was surrounded by walls and moat. There were numerous palaces and more than 100s of wats. He also wrote that the royal palace is considered as vast as a town. Monks came from as far as Burma and Cambodia to study in Vientiane, thus it is possible that Vientiane might have universities. Wuystoff also described a giant "golden pyramid", obviously it must be That Luang, and was the most important and still is today.
But sadly the magnificent monuments described by the Dutchman had disapeared, except That Luang and Haw Pha Keo. Vientiane's original arts and architecture have been lost and only Luangprabang survived. If the destruction of Vientiane didn't happen, I'm sure it would be one of Laos' World Heritage Site.
Now it's too late to rebuilt the city to its former glories. However, we could carry out a significant archaelogical research. After there's enough evident, then we will be considering building a life-size model of old Vientiane.
Before 1828, Vientiane was said by a foreign embassador to Siam that the Lao capital was as big as Bangkok. It covered pretty much of today's Vientiane prefecture.
According to the first European to visit Laos, Gerrit van Wuystoff, 1642, said Vientiane was surrounded by walls and moat. There were numerous palaces and more than 100s of wats. He also wrote that the royal palace is considered as vast as a town. Monks came from as far as Burma and Cambodia to study in Vientiane, thus it is possible that Vientiane might have universities. Wuystoff also described a giant "golden pyramid", obviously it must be That Luang, and was the most important and still is today.
But sadly the magnificent monuments described by the Dutchman had disapeared, except That Luang and Haw Pha Keo. Vientiane's original arts and architecture have been lost and only Luangprabang survived. If the destruction of Vientiane didn't happen, I'm sure it would be one of Laos' World Heritage Site.
Now it's too late to rebuilt the city to its former glories. However, we could carry out a significant archaelogical research. After there's enough evident, then we will be considering building a life-size model of old Vientiane.
Oh really sad to know! Siam was the very very bad for Laos.
Before 1828, Vientiane was said by a foreign embassador to Siam that the Lao capital was as big as Bangkok. It covered pretty much of today's Vientiane prefecture.
According to the first European to visit Laos, Gerrit van Wuystoff, 1642, said Vientiane was surrounded by walls and moat. There were numerous palaces and more than 100s of wats. He also wrote that the royal palace is considered as vast as a town. Monks came from as far as Burma and Cambodia to study in Vientiane, thus it is possible that Vientiane might have universities. Wuystoff also described a giant "golden pyramid", obviously it must be That Luang, and was the most important and still is today.
But sadly the magnificent monuments described by the Dutchman had disapeared, except That Luang and Haw Pha Keo. Vientiane's original arts and architecture have been lost and only Luangprabang survived. If the destruction of Vientiane didn't happen, I'm sure it would be one of Laos' World Heritage Site.
Now it's too late to rebuilt the city to its former glories. However, we could carry out a significant archaelogical research. After there's enough evident, then we will be considering building a life-size model of old Vientiane.
woww, thats sounds krazyyyy yehh i hope the world can know how great laos once was. i dont think many people know of the lao dynastys because our history was almost destroyd.
Yeah, they also deported all kind of lao craftsmen from black smiths to golden smiths and hundreds of thousand strong young lao from all over the country to bangkok to digging the famous klongsensaep. then laos lost the most precious thing : skilled people and from that unfortunated time, laos could hardly survive...
You're right, only a few dozen of highly skilled craftsmen(women) living in Laos, mostly concentrated in Luang Prabang. Most of the artisans are now "expiring", and soon the original Lao art might not be alive. Most kids in these days don't appreciate traditional art that much, and many are attracted to western art.
and did you know that when the french and thailand with the agreement of england divided laos using the mekong river as border, the entire lao population was only seven hundred thousand , france took lao kingdoom under its protectorat but reluctant of building a sustainable infra-structure for such small numbe of people... they prefered to invest on silver and lead mining in the north and central laos ...
do you know where i can read more about how Khlong Saensaep in Bangkok was built by khon Lao, or a source of that info? travelled along that canal a couple of times before but never knew this. thanks!
sorry, i read it long time ago and i don`t remember where it can be found , spell the name clearly , you will find out the meaning, it told how people who digged the klong had endured ... saensaep ! the book also told that our border sharing with cambodia has been changed, the former border was far lower than the actual one, krachaeh, xiengteng and many others were our former districts, people there still speak lao, and eat khaoneow paokhene, they are called " laolong or laostronaud", excuse me if i made mistake but the book said that...its author was a french woman I don`t remember her name , sorry !
