Vat Sene Soukharam
ວັດແສນສຸຂາຣາມ
Founded in 1718 by nobleman Ta Tiao Hang as just Vat Sene, it was named after a rock in the Nam Khan river where legend has it Ta Tiao Hang found a quantity of gold that financed construction of the temple. The name was changed c.1953 to Vat Sene Soukharam, "Temple of Great Peacefulness" by Pha Khamchan Virachitta Maha Thela (1920-2007), one of Luang Prabang's most influential monks, who was abbot here from 1949 until his death in 2007. After 1975 Pha Khamchan became the provincial head of the Lao Buddhist Fellowship Organisation making Vat Sene a highly important temple. [The Lao Sangha and Modernity]
|
The current sim dates to 1958 when the roof ridge was raised in height and the outer wings added. It is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and most photographed temples in Luang Prabang due to its size, its Thai influenced red and yellow coloured roof tiles as well as the large standing Buddha within the monastery compound facing Sakkalin Road. Both its exterior and interior walls are decorated with gold stencils on a red background which were restored c.2003 by Tiao Nithakhong Somsanith, a descendant of the Front Palace dynasty. The interior stencils depict famous chedi from around the world. Stencils on the side of the front pavilion depict the sim as it was prior to the 1958 rebuild.
Within the entrance pavilion of Vat Sene is kept the funeral urn, kot, used for the 2007 funeral of Pha Khamchan. The base and urn designed by artist Acharn Manivong and built at neighbouring Vat Sop Sikharam are laquered red and decorated with gold leaf. They were carried on a funeral chariot also made at Vat Sop to Vat That Luang for the cremation ceremony [The Quiet in the Land] The tall pavilion with a golden standing Buddha facing the main road was built 1972-1975. It replaced a standing Buddha statue dating from 1738 that was originally part of Vat Pha Chao, a temple long abandoned. The statue had been severely damaged in earlier times, long being known locally as "The Headless Buddha". A pavilion close to the centre of the monastery grounds holds a replica footprint of the Buddha. This pavilion stands approximately where Vat That Noi used to stand, another monastery long demolished. In 2023 a new pavilion was built within the monastery to display the Volkswagon Beetle car that was owned by Pha Khamchan. |
Pha Khamchan standing in front of "The Headless Buddha", Vat Sene
|
