Vientiane

The Vientiane Centre, Laos

Vientiane Centre

Head: Michel Lorrillard
Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient, FEML
1 rue Sisangvone - Unit 6
Bane Naxay
BP 3248
Vientiane, Laos
Tel.: + 856 21 41 46 20
Fax: + 856 21 41 39 52
michel.lorrillard@efeo.net

In 1951 the Laotian government entrusted the EFEO with the mission to preserve and restore its historical monuments and to manage the nation's museums. At the same time, the EFEO was authorized to carry out archaeological excavations. The School's official presence in Laos led to the arrival of the art historian and philologist Henri Deydier, the ethnologist Charles Archaimbault - renowned for his comparative work on Laotian principalities, and Pierre-Bernard Lafont, who resided at the Centre until 1966. Earlier in the 20th century, Henri Parmentier conducted the first research on the religious architecture of Laos and the Khmer temple Vat Phu, while Madeleine Colani carried out a pioneering investigation of a proto-historic site, the Plain of Jars. A new cooperation agreement, reached in 1993, with the Laotian Ministry of Information and Culture enabled the EFEO to open a Franco-Laotian Centre for Buddhist and Historical Studies in Vientiane.

Current research at the EFEO Centre in Vientiane is primarily conducted in historical studies based on philology and epigraphy; however, the Centre also undertakes work in disciplines such as ethnology, art history and archaeology. The sum of this activity contributes to a wider program of multidisciplinary research on Buddhist societies spanning Asia, from India to China.

Laos, a landlocked country relatively little affected by its rapidly changing surroundings, offers researchers exceptional conditions for on-site investigation.

Current research program:

  • General epigraphic inventory and publication of Laotian inscriptions
  • Study of Laotian religious literature
  • Material and artistic culture of Laotian Buddhism (archaeology, iconography)
  • Comparative ethnology of Austro-Asiatic minority societies

The Vientiane Center includes a library for the humanities and social sciences -- the only research library in Laos. Since 2007 its publication office has edited a series titled Texts and documents on Laos. The Centre also provides facilities for French and European scholars, as well as doctoral students and EFEO fellowship holders.

EFEO News
Winter School in Buddhist Textual Scholarship
Chiang Mai,Thailand, 25 November 2024
The call for applications for the Winter School in Buddhist Textual Scholarship to be held in Chiang Mai from February 24 to March 1st, 2025 is open until 25 November 2024.

Poster
Details of the program

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New publication
Kyoto,

Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, vol. 33 (2024)
Approching the High Plateau from the Archipelago
Tibetan Studies in Japan  
Approcher le Haut plateau depuis l'Archipel
Les études tibétaines au Japon

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Workshop
Pondicherry, India, 28 October 2024

The workshop "Alternative life projects in rural Southeast Asia: Reflecting on post-development through a study of diverse emplaced collectives" will be held from 28 to 30 October at the EFEO Centre in Pondicherry.

New Publication
Paris, France,

Sultans-bâtisseurs et innovations architecturales à Java au début de la période coloniale (XVIe - début XIXe siècle)

Hélène Njoto

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Study days
Paris, France, 17 October 2024
Thursday 17 and Friday 18 October, together with Stéphane Gros (CESAH), Pascale-Marie Milan is organising two study days entitled Family Resemblances: Kinship Practices along the Sino-Tibetan Borderlands.

They will be held at the Maison de l'Asie and the Condorcet campus. They will bring together specialists in kinship issues in different communities along the Sino-Tibetan borderlands.