(Source photo: internet)

So far, there has been no specific historical document confirming the starting date of the Tower, but the results of researchers show that the tower was built in about XV-XVI century. Chieng So Tower is an artistic architectural work clearly showing the talent and artistic creativity of the people of Vietnam – Laos. The Tower is structured in a wine-bottled shape, with a large bottom and smaller upper part. The tower is 10.5 m high, four sides around the base of tower are placed 2 elephants in the front and 2 dogs in the back. The tower was built with bricks and lime mortar. There are two types of bricks for building the Tower, which are large and thick solid brick used for building at the foot of the Tower, and small and thin brick used for building on the body and top of the Tower.

(Source photo: internet)

The foot of the Tower is built in a square consisting of many layers stacked up to make the look of the Tower more solid, a mortar layer is covered outside the brick layer, there is no decorative pattern around. The body of the Tower is decorated with vignettes, which the highlight is a lotus tower with six layers overlapping the Tower, embossed by stylized vignette lines of birds, flowers, foliage according to the very harmonious partial layout. The most special of all are the floating dragons twisting their bodies around the body of the Tower, the dragons’ heads and tails are clustered together to form the number eight. These dragons carry a very specific layer of scales, unlike any style expressed through historical periods in Vietnam. The dragons are small in size like snakes worshiped in Hindu culture. All these vignettes are arranged harmoniously around the body of the Tower to create accents and highlight the beauty of the Tower while creating an attraction and fascination to viewers when admiring this artistic architectural relic.

(Source photo: internet)

From the main part of the body of the Tower upwards, is was built in a hexagonal tubular architecture, surrounded by a tangent line intermingled with a lotus petal running continuously around the body of the Tower. The whole body of the Tower has 3 floors, the sides of each floor are plastered flat in a hexagon without any pattern, especially the middle part of each floor is bulging to look like young lotus bulbs. In the middle of the junction of each floor decorated with patterns, the patterns are stylized and prefabricated then attached such as: shapes of lotus petals, lances, suns and other shapes of flowers and foliage; inside the lotus petals and lances, there are attached small mirrors so that the light radiates around when the sun shines on. The top floor (the top of the Tower) is decorated like the lower floor, with only difference in miniature size to create the soft and delicate beauty of the Tower.

(Source photo: internet)

Chieng So Tower has many hidden architerctural, historical and cultural valudes that still exist today. Firstly, this is a relic with high artistic value in terms of architecture. The design of the Tower combined with the vignettes shows that this is an ancient cultural heritage embedded with creative thoughts, artistic ideas and thoughts on the lives of those who directly built the Tower in particular and the people of the two Vietnamese – Lao nations in general.

(Source photo: internet)

Secondly, Chieng So Tower has left great historical value because it helped researchers find ount and affirm the history of the long-standing solidarity between the two brotherlike Vietnamese – Lao nations.

Thirdly, cultural value: with ingenious creativity, the ancients have left behind a cultural heritage for the next generation – it is a splendid ancient Tower architecture which has hidden the cultural beauty between Vietnam and Laos joining their hands together with mutual ideas to build. The existence of the Tower educates our young generation to look at the relic as a great mirror so as to see the achievements in labor of our ancestors with enthusiasm, talent and solidarity. All those efforts show that the goal of our ancestors wishing to aim at is “Truth – Goodness – Beauty”.

Dienbien.gov.vn