Located on Samsenthai Road in front of the Lao National Cultural Hall, Lao National Museum is a place you cannot ignore. It was built in 1925 and was damaged in 1945 during the war. Lao National Museum is housed in the former mansion of the French résident supérieur and set in overgrown grounds with a hideous fountain and plumeria (frangipani) trees, the delicate blossoms of which are the national flower of Laos.

In 1980s, it served as the Lao Revolutionary’s Exhibit Hall and became the Lao Revolutionary Museum in 1985. In 2000, it was converted to what is now, the Lao National Museum. Inside, Laos’s ancient past is crudely depicted on canvas, with scenes such as crimson-clad Lao patriots of yore liberating the motherland from Thai and Burmese “feudalists”. Upstairs there are more crude oils: “French colonialists” are depicted as hair-faced ogres bullwhipping tightly trussed Lao villagers or tossing Lao tots down a well. Black-and-white photographs take over to tell the story of the struggle against “the Japanese fascists” and “American imperialists”. Most of the best artifacts on display, including a wonderfully detailed Khmer sculpture of Ganesh and a bronze frog-drum, possibly used in ancient rain-making rituals, didn’t fit neatly into the official socialist story line, and were, until recently, very neglected. Some of the exhibitions are currently only in Laos, but a project is underway to ensure English translations are made available.