Lao National Museum

The official history of Laos, told from the Pathet Lao perspective

Housed in a faded French colonial mansion a couple of blocks west of Nam Phu, the Lao National Museum walks visitors through Lao prehistory, the Lan Xang kingdom, French colonial rule, and the long war that brought the current government to power. The dinosaur fossils and pre-Angkorian sculptures in the ground floor rooms are interesting, but the heart of the museum is upstairs.

Glass cases display CIA-issued maps, downed American pilots' helmets, propaganda posters, and photographs of cluster munition victims. Captions in English are heavily weighted toward the Pathet Lao narrative. It is a strange, time-warped experience, half history and half political memorial. Admission is around 20,000 kip.

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Display captions still refer to American forces as 'imperialists' and chronicle the 'heroic struggle' of the Pathet Lao. Whatever you think of the politics, it is one of the few museums anywhere that tells the Indochina War from the winners' side.