Vientiane wears its history in layers: a 16th-century royal capital razed by Siam in 1828, rebuilt as a French colonial outpost, then bombed through nine years of a war nobody admitted. Three days of temples, archives and craters.
The only temple to survive the 1828 Siamese sacking, built 1818 by King Anouvong in Bangkok style — likely why it was spared. Cloister walls hold 6,840 Buddha images in niches. Open 08:00–17:00 daily; last entry 16:30.
Built 1565 by King Setthathirath to house the Emerald Buddha, taken from Chiang Mai and seized by Siam in 1779 — it sits in Bangkok still. Destroyed 1828, rebuilt 1936–42. Now a museum of Lao bronzes and Khmer steles.
Vientiane's guardian temple, built 1563 over the city pillar (lak muang). Legend says a pregnant woman named Si leapt into the foundation pit as a sacrifice. The Khmer-era laterite pillar behind the altar predates the temple.
That Dam, the Black Stupa, is Vientiane's oldest structure — a crumbling 16th-century brick stupa said to have housed a seven-headed naga that defended the city in 1828. Stripped of its gold leaf by Siamese troops.
Relocated from the 1925 French colonial governor's residence to a large purpose-built hall. Galleries run from Plain of Jars megaliths through French Indochina, the 1953 independence, and the Pathet Lao revolution of 1975.
Military history museum on Phonkheng Road covering the French war, the Ho Chi Minh Trail through southern Laos, and captured American aircraft. Outdoor lot holds MiG fighters, artillery and a downed US plane fuselage.
Built on the UXO legacy: between 1964 and 1973 the US dropped 2 million tonnes of ordnance on Laos, roughly a planeload every eight minutes for nine years. Around 30% failed to detonate. Free entry, open 09:00–18:00.
The spine of French Vientiane, laid out after 1893 when Laos became a protectorate. Shuttered villas, the Institut Français, and the 1920s customs houses run between Nam Phou fountain and Wat Ong Teu.
Founded in the 16th century by King Setthathirath, home to a six-tonne bronze Buddha that gives the temple its name (Temple of the Heavy Buddha). Seat of the Lao Buddhist Fellowship and the country's main monastic school.
The market district dates to the 1920s French period; the low original halls still trade gold, Lao silk and Soviet-era watches alongside the newer mall. Bureau de change stalls here set the city's informal kip rate.
Family-run compound of traditional wooden houses displaying antique Lao and Tai ethnic-minority weaving, indigo dye vats and working looms. Pieces include ceremonial pha biang and 100-year-old sinh skirts.
Built from 1958 by shaman-priest Bunleua Sulilat, who mixed Buddhist and Hindu cosmology in over 200 concrete sculptures. He fled to Thailand after the 1975 revolution and built a mirror park at Nong Khai across the river.