Luang Prabang Royal Palace Museum

Luang Prabang’s national museum, also known as “Haw Kham” or “Golden Hall”, is a great place to get an overview of Laos’ colourful history.

It was built in 1904 by the French colonial power as a palace for King Sisavang Vong and his family and is a beautiful blend of Lao traditional and French style.

After the death of King Sisavang in 1959 his son, crown Prince Savang Vatthana became the ruler. He is called the last king of Laos but he was never actually crowned. He wanted his coronation to wait until a raging civil war was over; three factions were fighting for control of the country.

In 1975 the (communist) Pathet Lao came to power and the king was forced to abdicate. He and his family were later sent to a re-education camp in the north of the country.

The palace was taken over by the new government and turned into a museum. It opened to the public in 1995.

The museum exhibits

The palace building has three main parts: at the front are reception areas; in the middle the throne hall and at the back the residential area left more or less as it was when last used by the royal family in 1975.

The reception halls are now the main exhibition areas.

These include busts and paintings of the monarchy, religious items, gifts received from other heads of state (organised by capitalist and socialist donors – interesting), glorious murals and cut mirror tile mosaics, thrones, crown jewels and art.

Royal Museum art

The Queen’s reception room has large paintings of King Savang Vatthana, Queen Khamphoui and the crown Prince Vong Savang painted by Russian artist Ilya Glazunov in 1967.

The portrait of the king is huge; it stretches from floor to ceiling and some people say the eyes are like those of the Mona Lisa and follow you as you walk by. However the portrait is 5 or 6 metres tall and the eyes are so far above that it’s difficult to see them let alone tell if they’re following you.

Much more down to earth is the king’s left shoe. It too seems to change shape and ‘follow you’ as you walk by. Many visitors, ourselves included, spend time walking backwards and forwards checking this out.

Royal museum graphic novel

A series of small pictures, hung contiguously along several walls are really an early Lao graphic novel. They tell story of a prince with a wife who betrayed him to a cruel Brahmin. The prince fled taking his children with him but the Brahmin followed him to many remote locations and tried to steal the children.They were saved by mystical creatures who lead the prince to his father, the king. The pair were reunited and the king then abdicated in favour of his son.

It was a bizarre story but I’m glad I read the (English) caption beneath each picture rather than just walking past and glancing at them.

The museum is stuffed full with all manner of art and artifacts but focussing on a few makes the entire visit more memorable.

Among the historical artifacts, the one that stuck in my mind was a bronze drum.

There is a reason for this. Read on …

Lao creation myth

One morning while we cruised along the Mekong river, our guide Mr Keo told us a Lao creation myth.

The gods became tired of the evil ways of men so they sent a great flood and only a brother and sister survived by floating in a big bronze drum.

When the flood subsided an eagle god told them they must marry but this angered the boy. He threw something at the eagle but the bird just flew away.

Then a turtle god told them they must marry. The angry boy lashed out at the turtle with his sword and to this day the turtle bears the scars.

Then a bamboo god told them the same thing and the brother slashed away again. The bamboo used to have a smooth trunk but now it has the scars from the boy’s sword.

Eventually however the boy and girl got married, the girl became pregnant and in due time gave birth to a pumpkin.

This grew, the boy cut the top off with his sword and people came pouring out. These became the Lao highlanders who went to live on the mountain-tops.

Then the brother cut off the bottom of the pumpkin and more people poured out and became the lowlanders who live in the valleys and along the rivers.

Then the boy heated his sword in a fire and made a hole in the middle of the pumpkin. The people who poured out became the uplanders who live between 500m and 1000m and have darker skins because they were heated by the hot sword.

Lao ethnic groups

There are about 80 ethnic groups and many more sub-groups in Lao and they probably all have their own creation story but every one seems to involve a giant pumpkin or gourd and a sword.

And the population is indeed made up of highlanders, lowlanders and uplanders.

Lao ethnic Highlanders

The highlanders live in the mountains above 1000 metres and include the Hmongs and the Yaos. They are relative newcomers to Lao, arriving in the last 200 years or so and are mostly animists. They have witches, shamans, and also have their own tradition, language and culture.

Lao ethnic Lowlanders

The Laos Tai (or Thai) are the majority ethnic group of Laos. They originated in Southern China and migrated to Laos between the 7th and 13th centuries AD although some probably came earlier. Some people (probably the Lao Tai) say the term Tai marks an alleged superiority of this ethnical group. They are mainly Buddhists with shades of animism.

Lao ethnic Uplanders

The Uplanders are the oldest inhabitants of Laos and probably migrated there in prehistoric times.

Unfortunately they are often despised by other groups, sometimes called ‘slaves’ or ‘savages’, and they still have a lower standard of living than other ethnic groups.

The Kammu are the most important group of the Uplanders

They are animists and believe in witchcraft, after-life, and hell, contrary to Buddhists.

Useful information for the Royal Palace Museum in Luang Prabang

• No photography is allowed inside the museum.
• No bags allowed, so you must leave yours in lockers provided near the entrance
• Shoes must be removed before entering the museum.
• Dress conservatively. Women with short shorts or skirts are required to put on a Lao skirt before entering (Lao skirts are available for hire on spot).
• Opening hours: every day, 08:30-11:00, 13:30-16.00.
• Entrance fee 30,000 kips (about $3.60)

Information about our journey to Laos

We were travelling with Pandaw River Cruises on the RV Laos Pandaw on a ten day expedition along the Mekong River from Vientiane (Laos) to Chiang Kong (Thailand).

All guides and excursions were organised by Pandaw.

We had a wonderful time in, for the most part, remote and lesser visited parts of the country.

For more details of the RV Laos Pandaw see here.

For a video of our Laos expedition see here on this website.

Or watch it on on YouTube here.

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