A four year long Lao-Swedish research cooperation lies behind a recently opened exhibition at the Lao National Museum in Vientiane.
Named ‘the bamboo city and the city of 300 temples, early history of Vientiane province’ the exhibition shows the results of this years’ excavations at Viengkham and Say Fong.
Viengkham, or the Bamboo City, is believed to be one of the earliest urban sites in that area. Excavations have been conducted at the main temples site in the old city of Viengkham and part of the structure that hosted the Phra Bang Buddha image for almost 150 years was unearthed, reports KPL.
Say Fong, the City of 300 Temples, is another early urban area in the province. This site still has remains of many ancient temples.
Both sites date from the time just before and around the establishment of the Lane Xang kingdom, but also indicate a settlement continuity that runs over many hundreds of years.
The Swedish support has been given by Department of Archaeology & Ancient History, Uppsala University, Sweden, through funding by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
