THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS DURING THE FRENCH COLONIAL PERIOD IN LAOS

Abstract

As a country following the Buddhist tradition, Laos' architecture is also strongly influenced by Buddhism and is reflected in the constructions of temples, pagodas, houses, towers, et cetera. Since becoming a colony of France from 1893-to 1953, the new Laos architecture has had many changes. The French colonialists wanted to mark their domination over Laos, so they built many public buildings with characteristics of French architecture, such as administrative buildings, schools, hospitals, post offices, et cetera. Most of the public buildings' authority clearly shows the novel influence of French architecture in a country used to feudalism. The French created public buildings in Laos to create an operating apparatus and manage and execute the tasks set out by the government to rule the colony. In this paper, the author presents Lao public buildings' features during the French colonial period. The public buildings we mention in this paper are almost from three cities Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Savannakhet.