Discover
Discover
The Champasak cultural landscape in southern Laos includes the Vat Phou temple complex. UNESCO describes it as a remarkably well-preserved planned landscape more than a thousand years old, using an axis from mountain top to river bank to lay out temples, shrines and waterworks over some 10 kilometres, together with two ancient cities on the Mekong and Phou Kao mountain.
History
History
The landscape developed from the 5th to the 15th centuries and is mainly associated with the Khmer Empire. Phou Kao's summit, shaped like a natural linga, gave the mountain sacred meaning, one reason the temple was built at its foot.
People & Culture
People & Culture
UNESCO notes the landscape was shaped to express the Hindu vision of the relationship between nature and humanity. For us, Vat Phou is a place where mountain, river and temple were conceived as one system of meaning.
Living Heritage
Living Heritage
Though Hindu in origin, Vat Phou is today a place of worship for Lao Buddhists. The Vat Phou festival in the third lunar month still draws people from across the region to make merit and celebrate.
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