Wat Wisunarat

Wat Wisunarat stands apart in Luang Prabang for its unusually rounded stupa, which locals call the Watermelon Stupa. Built in the early sixteenth century during the reign of King Wisunarat, it holds the title of the city’s oldest operating Buddhist temple. The structure was originally crafted from wood using timber from thousands of trees, though the current building is a late nineteenth-century reconstruction made of brick and plaster.