Muong Va tower: A cultural relic in Son La

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Muong Va tower in Son La. Photo: Nguyen Cuong/VNA.

As reported, over 400 years ago, the Thai ethnic people in Muong Va commune supported the Lao migrants to build Muong Va tower that became a national ancient architectural relic of Vietnam in 1995.

Muong Va tower is deeply imbued with Theravada Buddhism brought in by the Lao people and it is considered the most ancient work in Sop Cop district and one of a few old architectures in the northwest.

Lying on a 13m-high artificial hill, the tower had been restored twice to its former glory, boasting cultural and art values characterized culture and religion of the Lao ethnic group in the northwest and Son La in particular.

Atop the tower, tourists could see a panorama of Muong Va mountain village surrounded by stretching mountains, immense paddy fields and dreamlike streams.

Son La shares over 200km of borderline with Laos and is now home to upper Lao ethnic people, or 0.33 percent of the province’s total population, mostly in Sop Cop and Song Ma districts. Muong Va commune records their largest population who live on cultivation and rice farming.

A representative of Son La's Provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that, the relic affirms solidarity between Vietnam and Laos and cultural exchange between the Lao and Thai ethnic groups in Son La.