The Red Chapel in Wat Xieng Thong

The Red Chapel ( Haw Tai Pha Sai-Nyaat) is one of the buildings of Wat Xieng Thong. The exterior is covered with a red, sometimes fading to pink, stucco inlaid with brightly colored glass mosaics that illustrate both religious activities and everyday Lao life. The mosaics were added, during the major restoration of the chapel in 1957, to commemorate the 2500th anniversary of the Buddha's death and achievement of nirvana. The original date of the construction of the chapel is uncertain to this writer; its important Buddha sculpture dates from the 16th century. It has a three layer roof with eighteen ceremonial naga brackets supporting the lowest roof, and four delicate cho fa, ornamental finials, at the ends of the upper two layers