Champasak cultural landscape
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How it came to be
Vat Phou is a temple complex in southern Laos, on the west bank of the Mekong. The mountain behind it, Phou Khao, has a natural lingam-shaped rock on its peak, so it was seen as the home of Shiva, and the river as the ocean or the Ganges. By the late 5th century the riverside city of Shrestapura, east of the mountain, was the capital of a kingdom, and the first structure was built on the mountain.
Temples, shrines and reservoirs line an east-west axis about 10 km long, from the riverbank to the mountaintop. UNESCO says the layout expresses the Hindu view of the relationship between nature and humanity. Shrestapura (5th to 7th centuries) was followed by Lingapura (9th to 13th centuries), south of Vat Phou, and roads and canals were built, including a road towards Angkor.
Most of the standing buildings date from the Khmer Empire. A festival is held at the site every February. Lao-UNESCO projects began in 1987, and the landscape was inscribed in 2001.
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