The former Royal Palace, now turned into a museum is situated on the banks of the Mekong river, facing the sacred Mount Phousi. Locally the Palace is known as the Haw Kham or Ho Kham, which translates to Golden Palace.
When in 1975 the communist Pathet Laos party came to power ending the Laos monarchy, the Royals were forced to leave the Palace, after which it was turned into the National Museum.
The museum houses the Phra Bang, the country’s most sacred Buddha image, which is kept in a richly ornamented shrine.