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Les inscriptions du That Luang de Vientiane : données nouvelles sur l'histoire d'un stūpa lao

2003; École française d'Extrême-Orient; Volume: 90; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3406/befeo.2003.3616

1760-737X

Michel Lorrillard,

Cambodian History and Society

Michel Lorrillard The inscriptions of the That Luang of Vientiane The That Luang in Vientiane, the principal religious building of Laos, has until now only been the subject of a purely descriptive architectural study. But we know, since 1930, that the present stupa covers earlier structures and that it is therefore the result of a relatively slow and complex process of construction. Today, the analysis of a certain number of inscriptional sources, the study of information that is to be found in historical chronicles and the interpretation of archaeological data can together bring us closer to the history of the monument and help to improve considerably our understanding of the context in which it was constructed. The That Luang, earlier known also as the "Phra Mahā That Chao Chiang Mai" and the "Lokaculāmani-thupa", was at first the private family building of the three principal Laotian sovereigns of the sixteenth century: Phothisarāt, Setthāthirāt and Hno Muang. It was certainly the most spectacular product of the cultural and political ties that united the two kingdoms of Lān Nā and Lān Xāng at the time, the first of which was already entering upon its phase of decline, while the second had struck a period of development that was to last a century yet.