Vat ​Nong Si Khoun Muang
​ວັດໜອງ ສີຄູນເມືອງ

"The Temple of the Precious Pond" was founded in 1740 by the wife of Ta Tiao Hang who founded Vat Sene. It was built on land reclaimed from a pond that was believed locally to be the eye of a giant naga serpent, Mount Phousi being the back of this naga. The main Buddha image Phra Chao Ong Saensaksit weighs 211kg and is highly revered after the statue and its vestments remained miraculously unscathed during a fire in 1774 which destroyed the whole village. It survived another fire in1886. It was originally bought from Chiang Saen in Thailand by a rich merchant who planned to take it via the Mekong River to his town, but the raft refused to travel beyond Ban Nong. 
The current sim dates to 1965 after a severe storm caused extensive damage to the older structure.

In front of Vat Nong is a tall stupa which stands right on the modern boundary of the monastery. This stupa has four seated Buddha images facing each of the cardinal directions. This rare posture known as Pralambanasana is generally associated with very old statues. In this case however, the stupa is known to date from 1885, erected by Phanga Rasabalat to house a relic of the Buddha, as recorded by the stone inscription at its base. See the full translation here.

Vat Nong is listed in the UNESCO Heritage Inventory as #480

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Vintage Photos

In 1957 Joel Halpern took these colour photographs of the old sim at Vat Nong​. This sim possibly dates back to 1804 [Laurent Rampon]. Note the murals on the front wall.

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In 1965 the old sim was badly damaged in a storm. The decision  was made to build a new sim. These photos from that time show how the whole community was involved in this construction effort.

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