LUANG PRABANG History

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Luang Prabang is at the center of a long history, and the buildings tell the tale.  Once the capital of Lan Xang, the 14th century Kingdom of the Million Elephants, Luang Prabang was the seat of an empire that stretched across much of South East Asia.  In 1694, the Kingdom split into Luang Prabang in the north, Vientiane in the center and Champassack in the south.  Luang Prabang came under Chinese, then Burmese, and eventually Siamese control.  Then, in 1893, in order to maintain their own sovereignty, Siam gave the region of Luang Prabang to the French, who hoped to open trade routes to Vietnam.  Although it has a history of kings and was the center of an empire that once extended into present-day Thailand, Burma, Vietnam, and Cambodia, the old provincial capital fell into disrepair with the 1975 revolution, which abolished the ancient monarchy and set up the Communist People's Democratic Republic of Laos.  A good deal of the province was also destroyed by saturation bombing during the Vietnam War.  Shops were closed, pagodas deserted or burned, and centuries-old traditions faded, including the skills of builders.  Until recently very few tourists were allowed in the country but with the current government's liberalizing of external relations and the easing of travel restrictions, the cultural heirloom of Luang Prabang is being brought out of storage for display.