The main hall of Vat Saen Sukharam was built in C.S. 1080 (B.E. 2261, C.E. 1718) by Ta Chao Heng during the reign of the King King Kitsaraj. It had been built for 239 years, so it was very shabby. Sathou Nyai Khamchan Virachitta Mahathera (1920-2007), the abbot of Vat Saen Sukharam destroy the old one (Photo Nr. B1476) and rebuilt and heightened the roof (Photo Nr. B1418 to B1423) in B.E. 2501 (C.E. 1958). In 1962, Sathou Nyai Khamchan widened more one block to each side. There two reasons that we called Vat Saen, the first reason was Ta Chao Heng who built Vat Saen got gold from stone named Saen on Nam Khan River, then he sold the gold to get money to build the main hall of Vat Saen. the second one was lay people collected money amount one handred thousand Kips (Saen Kips in Lao) to build this main hall. Vat Saen was especially taken care by Sathou Nyai Khamchan, he designed by himself then he led monks and novices of Vat Saen, and some artisans of Luang Prabang built. It is the first temple in Luang Prabang roofed by baked clays from Thailand, and it is the temple decorated by gold leaves stencil and mixture of Lao patterns from many temples of Luang Prabang. On the mural painting, there are many kinds of pagodas and the Buddhist sites model portraits that were visited and prayed respect by Sathou Nyai Khamchan. Before 1958, this temple was only called Vat Saen when Sathou Nyai Khamchan rebuilt the main hall, he would like to add the family name of the temple. When Sathou Nyai Khamchan had been to visit Thailand, he consulted with the abbot of Vat Phra That Phanom who is his monk friend how to add the family name of the temple, the abbot of Vat Phra That Phanom said that we should add Sukharam to be Vat Saen Sukharam, and the main Buddha statue in the main hall of Vat Saen Sukharam named Saensouk Buddha statue, Sathou Nyai Khamchan thought that it is a nice name and has a meaning and agreed with him to named Vat Saen Sukharam to the present day.
Original material consists of: chromogenic print.
