Gilded doors
Fine carving.
Christophe95 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Christophe95 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Basile Morin — CC BY-SA 4.0
A former royal temple built by King Setthathirath in 1565-1566, after he moved the capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane, in the royal palace grounds to house the famous Emerald Buddha. When the Siamese took the city in 1779 they carried the statue to Bangkok, where it remains. The temple has been rebuilt several times, the present building dating from the 1930s, on a high terrace reached by stairs guarded by naga serpents, with a pillared veranda around the hall and wooden doors gilded with fine ornament. It is now a museum of religious art showing stone and bronze sculpture, old inscriptions and palm-leaf manuscripts, set in a neat garden of trees and flowers. It is visited together with Wat Si Saket across the road. A small fee at the entrance; sources differ on the amount. Temples are living places of worship: cover shoulders and knees and take off shoes before entering halls.
Fine carving.
A high terrace.
On palm leaves.
Setthathirath Road, south-east of Wat Si Saket, central Vientiane
In Bangkok, since the Siamese took it in 1779; Haw Phra Kaew remains a religious-art museum in Vientiane.
