| Patuxai
"Gate of Triumph" (1960)
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sites in Vientiane |
Vientiane, Laos |
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The Patuxai, The Arch or Gate of Triumph, is reminescent of the Arc de Triomphe of Paris--large scale and with a single arch with an observatio deck on top. It was built to commemorate Lao who had died in battle servin their country before the revolutionary wars. It was begun in 1960 an completed with concrete donated by the United States for the construction of the airport.
As with its Parisian counterpart, there is a broad processional avenue leading to it and a series of roads radiating out from it. Up close one can see the various Lao motifs and designs. The upper part is uniquely Lao.
Bibliography:
All images copyright 2002 by professor Robert D. Fiala of Concordia University, Nebraska, USA
Text by Robert D. Fiala
Joe Cummings, Lonely Planet: Laos. 3rd. ed., 1998.