Wat Si Saket

“Where a small Buddha sits in every niche, and the cloister itself becomes a prayer”

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Photo: Basile Morin · CC BY-SA 4.0

Scenes

Light entering the far end of Wat Si Saket's cloister as a monk passes between yellow columns — Light at the end of the cloister — a Buddha in every wallPhilip Nalangan · CC BY 4.0

The layered roofs and wooden eaves of Wat Si Saket seen from below — Roofs descending fold upon foldPhilip Nalangan · CC BY 4.0

Meaning

Beyond the rain-darkened brick courtyard the layered roofs sweep low, and as you walk the cloister, small Buddha images sit shoulder to shoulder in every niche.

Held to have been built in 1818 by King Anouvong, it survived the Siamese destruction of Vientiane in 1828 and is regarded as the oldest temple still standing in the city. Thousands of Buddha images, large and small, fill the niches and shelves of the cloister that rings the ordination hall, many of them gathered, it is said, from other temples of the ruined city. Some accounts hold that its Siamese-style architecture spared it — and today it is understood as the place where a lost city's Buddhas are gathered under one colonnade.

Field notes

Location: Vientiane · Laos · N18.0° · E102.6°
Best time: Early morning, when slanting light finds the Buddhas niche by niche
Getting there: Opposite the Presidential Palace in central Vientiane, reached on foot.
Etiquette: Shoulders and knees are covered in the hall, and the images are not touched.

Sources

· Encyclopaedia Britannica
· Tourism Laos (official)

Wikipedia

Photographs are freely licensed works from Wikimedia Commons and similar sources; the author and license appear beneath each image.