Officials and invited guests tour painted walls of Wat Sisaketh

Phouthong Sivongsa

(KPL)  Last Friday witnessed the handover of the wall painting of the sanctuary of Wat Sisaket by the German embassy, who funded the painting project, to the Lao Government.

German Ambassador to Lao, Mr Michael Grau, and Director General of the Heritage Department, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr Thongbai Phothisan, performed the handover in the presence of relevant officials and invited guests.

Wat Sisaket, a well-known national archaeological heritage site, was built in 1818-1824 for King Anouvong as his private monastery. It is the oldest Buddhist monastery in Vientiane and the most valuable in terms of its art history.

The inner walls of the temple are painted with scenes from the life of Prince Pookkharabat (an early incarnation of the Buddha) from the Balasankhaya Jataka, dating back to five different periods between 1820 to approximately 1960. The wall painting is part of the renovation project of Wat Sisaket, funded by a financial grant of EUR 219,000 from the German government.

Due to rising damp and salt deposits, the plaster and the paintings have been seriously damaged and are extremely endangered in their current state.

Preliminary studies and evaluations of possible restoration techniques carried out in 2011 through 2013 resulted in restoration activities taking place from July 2014 onward, aiming to reduce damage from moisture and salt in the masonry by making structural changes to the building, followed by desalination treatments, plaster stabilisation and augmentation, and then the cleaning, consolidation, and retouching of the paintings.

The restoration was carried out under German management by a team of international experts and Lao staff who received restoration training through the project.

KPL