That Luang is the national symbol and most important religious monument of Laos. Vientiane's most important Theravada Buddhist festival, "Boun That Luang", is held here for three days during the full moon of the twelfth lunar month (November).

The That Luang dates from 1566. It has been destroyed and ransacked and renovated numerous times. The site is sacred as the Lao believe that the stupa enshrines a relict of Buddha.

For festival on 13th December Monks and laypeople from all over Laos congregate to celebrate the occasion with three days of religious ceremony followed by a week of festivities, day and night. The procession of laypeople begins at Wat Si Muang in the city center and proceeds to That Luang to make offerings to the monks in order to accumulate merit for rebirth into a better life. The religious part concludes as laypeople, carrying incense and candles as offerings, circulate That Luang three times in honor of Buddha. Folk and popular music troupes and drama performances provide entertainment at the festival.

History of Pha That Luang Pha That Luang is a remarkable stupa, a Buddhist monument, in Laos. So, how did Laos end up with this architectural marvel? The history of Buddhism in Laos actually dates back to at least the 3rd century CE, when the Indian emperor Ashoka sent emissaries to spread Buddhism across Asia. According to tradition, one of those emissaries ended up in Vientiane, and founded the first Buddhist temple of the city.

That temple was replaced by the Khmer Empire of Laos in the 13th century, but the new temple later fell into disrepair. Then, in 1566, the Laotian king Setthathirat decided to move his capital from the city of Luang Prabang to Vientiane. When he did, he realized he had to rebuild Vientiane into a royal capital worthy of his throne, and he started by building the stupa of Pha That Luang. As a Buddhist, the king would have hoped that building the stupa would help on his own path to enlightenment, as well.

The stupa you see today is directly modeled on King Setthathirat's, but it's not unaltered. In 1828, Pha That Luang was almost completely destroyed by the invading Kingdom of Siam. The biggest thing to save it from being burnt to the ground was likely a desire to pillage all the gold from it.

The stupa was abandoned after that, until the French decided to rebuild it once they expanded their empire into that part of Asia. The French ultimately rebuilt the stupa along Setthathirat's plans in 1930. It was again nearly destroyed in 1940 during the independence movements of Southeast Asia, but after World War II was finally reconstructed into the monument you see today.