This Wat, like Wat Phra Kaeo of Bangkok, is not a monastery but served as royal temple. In its original form, it had been built in 1565 by King Setthathirat to house the Emerald Buddha brought from Chiang Mai. In 1788 the Emerald Buddha was taken to Bangkok by the Siamese. Since then, it's the holiest statue, not of the Laotians but of the Thais. Wat Phra Kaeo in Vientiane was mostly destroyed during the Siamese invasion of 1827. In the 40's and 50's of this century it was meticulously reconstructed.