Wolfgang's photos with the keyword: Wat Rasavolavihane

At the temple premise its the building for monks housing and their dining and living rooms.

The structure of many old temples built in Southeast Asia had an astrological base to their design and construction. These temples, including all the state mountain temples of Angkor, were built to represent the universe and its astronomical bodies. Like most Southeast Asian countries, the Lao adopted these Brahman astrological and cosmological concepts from the ancient Khmer. The aspect of the position of the sun and its movement into Aries as well as the 12-year cycle in conjunction with the 12 astrological signs of the zodiac are hidden in the construction, design and motifs of Lao local temples. On the western bank of the Mae Khong River opposite the famous cave of Tam Ting is Wat Pak Ou.

Its mural paintings illustrate the signs of theyearly animals of the Lao horoscope and the 12-year cycle withassociated animals.

Originally built in the early 16th century, Wat Pak Ou was intended as a bastion of Buddhism which would help eradicate animist practices in the capital of the Lane Xang kingdom, as well as a guardian temple for the nearby Pak Ou Caves.

When the royal court was transferred to Vientiane in 1560 its name was once more changed, this time to Luang Prabang in honour of the sacred pha bang Buddha image, then housed at Wat Wisun. Lane Xang later broke up into three kingdoms of Luang Prabang, Vientiane and Champassak, but of the three only Luang Prabang was destined to survive into the French colonial era and between 1946 and 1975 the King of Luang Prabang ruled as constitutional monarch of all the Lao territories. Since the early 1990s Luang Prabang city has attracted considerable interest for its unique and important fusion of indigenous and colonial architectural, leading to its inscription in 1995 on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Chedi at the premise of the Wat. This stupa is build long time after the temple.