Travel about seven and a half kilometers southeast from the administrative center of Sốp Cộp commune across a fertile wet-rice valley near the Vietnam-Laos border, and you will see a rounded hill rising some fifteen meters straight out of the flat floor among the stilt houses of Mường Và village. Calm ponds ring the base of the hill, reflecting coconut palms and old frangipani trees, while from the summit a dark red brick stupa points straight toward the sky.
The local Lao community calls this monument Thát Mường Và. Remarkable not only for its handmade brick and cane-molasses mortar construction that has endured for over four hundred years, Mường Và Stupa is also tied to an extraordinary 17th-century community endeavor in which villagers excavated ponds to heap up a hill in the middle of the plain for their pagoda and stupa, creating a harmonious geomantic and spiritual landmark in southwestern Sơn La province.
IThe legend of building the hill and the Buddhist faith of the Mường Và Lao community
Mường Và Stupa belongs to the Theravada Buddhist stupa tradition of the Lao people who have long inhabited the Sốp Cộp valley in Sơn La province. Like Mường Luân Stupa in Điện Biên, the monument originates from the Lao cultural and scriptural sphere rooted in Pali and Sanskrit rather than Chinese characters, so the Chinese character field at the top of this page is left blank in fidelity to its historical heritage.
In the spiritual life of the Lao people in northwestern Vietnam, the monastery (Vạt) and the reliquary stupa (Thát) form the heart of every valley settlement. The five-tiered spire represents the abiding presence of the Triple Gem (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha), the purification of the five aggregates, and the cosmic axis linking human society with enlightenment. In flat valley floors especially, raising an elevated mound to place the stupa at the highest point of the village expresses supreme reverence for the Buddha while allowing the compassionate light of the crowning lotus bud to radiate across all four quarters.
According to oral history passed down across generations by Lao elders in Mường Và village, around the 17th century a geomancer and senior monk traveled through the Mường Và valley. Observing that the valley was ringed by high mountains and watered by the Nậm Ca stream across fertile fields, he noted that the center of the basin was completely flat and lacked a commanding hill to anchor the land's vital energy. He advised the local chieftain (called Chẩu Hua) and the villagers to heap up an artificial hill right in the center of the settlement to erect a Buddhist pagoda and stupa.
Over many dry seasons after the harvest, men and women excavated earth around the site and carried it in baskets to raise a mound standing 15 to 17 meters above the surrounding rice fields. The deep pits from which the earth was dug filled with rainwater and underground springs, becoming the ring of large ponds that still encircle the foot of the hill today. Atop that man-made hill, the villagers built a wooden temple (Vạt Mường Và) and the five-tiered brick stupa. Through historical upheavals and the passage of centuries, the wooden pagoda beside the tower decayed and vanished, leaving the solid brick stupa standing alone for more than four hundred years.
Standing at the foot of Mường Và Stupa and looking up at the fifteen-meter hill shaded by mature trees, many first-time visitors assume it is a natural knoll rising from the plain. In fact, the ring of large ponds hugging the base of the hill in the middle of a flat alluvial valley provides direct physical confirmation of the 17th-century pond-digging and hill-building tradition. Moreover, like other ancient Lao Thát monuments, Mường Và Stupa is built completely solid from pedestal to pinnacle, with no interior chamber or doorway.
IIOver four hundred years of heritage preservation on the Sốp Cộp frontier
The history of Mường Và Stupa testifies both to the durability of highland folk masonry and to the steadfast devotion of the Lao community in Sơn La province.
- 17th centuryRaising the artificial hill and building the Vạt temple and Mường Và StupaGuided by chieftain Chẩu Hua and a master geomancer, villagers of Mường Và excavated ponds to heap up a 15-to-17-meter hill in the center of the village, erecting a wooden pagoda and a five-tiered brick stupa bound with cane-molasses mortar.
- 18th - early 20th centuriesSpiritual center of the Mường Và valleyThe pagoda and Mường Và Stupa served as the foremost religious and cultural center for the Lao community in southwestern Sơn La. Over time the wooden temple perished, leaving the ancient brick stupa crowning the hill.
- 24 January 1998Ranked as a National architectural and artistic heritage siteThe Ministry of Culture and Information issued Decision No. 95/1998/QĐ-BVHTT on 24 January 1998 recognizing Mường Và Stupa as a National architectural and artistic heritage site.
- 2013 - 2015Conservation, structural stabilization and landscape restorationTo address weather erosion on the brickwork and spire, Sơn La province and Sốp Cộp district carried out a conservation project stabilizing the tower, reinforcing the hill slopes, building stone access steps and embanking the surrounding ponds.
- 2025Merger into the new Sốp Cộp communeUnder Resolution No. 1681/NQ-UBTVQH15 of 2025 issued by the National Assembly Standing Committee, the former Mường Và commune, Nậm Lạnh commune and Sốp Cộp township were merged into the new Sốp Cộp commune under Sơn La province.
In architectural studies of ancient Buddhist stupas in northwestern Vietnam, Mường Và Stupa in Sơn La, together with Mường Luân Stupa and Chiềng Sơ Stupa in Điện Biên, forms the triad of representative 16th-to-17th-century Lao Buddhist towers in Vietnam. Distributed along valleys of the upper Mã River basin and its tributaries, the three monuments reflect centuries of cultural exchange and enduring friendship between the Vietnamese and Lao peoples.
IIIFive-tiered pen-tower architecture and reliefs of mountain-climbing elephants
Crowning the artificial hill 15 to 17 meters above the surrounding fields, Mường Và Stupa is built in the shape of a square-plan pen-tower (bút tháp) rising about 13 meters high (some sources measuring from the lower platform to the tip of the lotus bud cite 13 to 15 meters). The structure is divided into five balanced tiers that taper progressively upward, combining a grounded base with a graceful spire.
The stupa is constructed of large handmade orange-red terracotta bricks (gạch vồ), each measuring roughly 35 cm long, 15 cm wide and 6 cm thick. To bind tens of thousands of bricks into a monolithic solid core without timber frames or cement, 17th-century artisans used a traditional mortar of slaked lime and fine sand mixed with boiled sugarcane molasses and forest tree resin. Laid in thin joints that bonded tightly with the porous terracotta, this organic mortar has kept the stupa standing through four centuries of mountain storms.
The hand-heaped earthen mound rising 15 to 17 meters in the center of Mường Và village is shaded by old trees. Stone-paved steps lead from the pond-ringed base up to a brick courtyard on the summit where the stupa stands.
Built on a square plan measuring about 4.5 meters on each side at the base, the stupa rises in five tiers separated by rhythmic stepped moldings. The lowest tier is the broadest and tallest, while the upper four narrow like a calligraphy brush.
Across all four symmetrical brick faces, artisans molded and carved traditional Lao Buddhist motifs including multi-petaled chrysanthemums, bodhi leaves, lotus petals, scrolling vines and undulating dragons.
A signature artistic detail of Mường Và Stupa is the stylized relief of elephants climbing the mountain slopes. In Lao Buddhist culture, the elephant symbolizes strength, peace and steadfast protection of the Dharma.
Atop the fifth tier rises a slender spire supporting a rounded lotus bud pointing toward the sky as an emblem of pure enlightenment.
Because all four faces of Mường Và Stupa are completely symmetrical and feature no false doors or deep niches, the tower presents the exact same balanced silhouette from every direction across the Mường Và valley. The warm red of its ancient bricks against the green frangipani and coconut trees on the hill and the mirror-like ponds below creates a striking architectural scene in the border highlands.
IVThe lie of the land and the facing
This section is the library's own reading through the lens of traditional form-school feng shui based on field topography and satellite coordinates, rather than content transcribed from stelae or monument dossiers.
Mường Và Stupa at coordinates 20.89736 degrees North and 103.61414 degrees East stands as a rare 17th-century example of remedial geomantic earthwork (shaping terrain to gather qi) in northwestern Vietnam. Mường Và village lies within a small basin encircled by the high border ridges of Sốp Cộp, blessed with flat rice fields and the Nậm Ca stream (a tributary of the Mã River) flowing through. Yet because the center of the valley floor was entirely flat, vital qi tended to disperse along the watercourse without a central focal point.
When the ancient geomancer advised villagers to excavate the surrounding earth to heap up a fifteen-meter hill right in the center of the village and crown it with a five-tiered brush stupa, the community solved two geomantic needs at once. First, the artificial hill combined with the thirteen-meter stupa created a central backing hill and a literary brush tower anchoring the entire valley, giving the dragon vein (long mạch) descending from the surrounding mountains a firm node (huyệt) in which to coalesce. Second, the excavated depressions around the base filled with water to form a ring of ponds acting as an inner bright hall (minh đường) that cools the microclimate and retains water qi. Standing symmetrically atop the hill, the stupa looks out across the Mường Và fields and the Nậm Ca stream in front while leaning against the border mountain ranges as its rear backing (hậu chẩm), maintaining a balanced configuration for over four hundred years.
VThe Khẩu Hó, Khẩu Hoắt and Water Splashing festivals at the ancient stupa
Throughout the year, the hill of Mường Và Stupa serves as the most sacred ceremonial ground for the Lao community in Sốp Cộp commune, hosting a cycle of agricultural and Theravada Buddhist festivals rich in northwestern Lao identity.
| Time of year | Traditional festival | Rites and activities at Mường Và Stupa |
|---|---|---|
| Full moon of the 8th lunar month | Khẩu Hó Festival (New Rice Festival) | As rice ripens across the Mường Và plain, villagers harvest the first glutinous rice ears, steam new sticky rice wrapped in small banana-leaf packets (Khẩu Hó) and carry them with fruit and grilled fish up to Mường Và Stupa to offer thanks to the Buddha, guardian spirits and ancestors. |
| Full moon of the 6th (or 7th) and 9th (or 10th) lunar months | Khẩu Hoắt (entering the rains retreat) and Ọc Hoắt (ending the retreat) | Traditional Lao Buddhist rites marking the three-month monsoon season of ethical reflection. Villagers in traditional attire present beeswax candles, fresh flowers and vegetarian offerings at the stupa base to pray for peace. |
| Mid-April (around the 3rd lunar month) | Water Splashing Festival (Bun Huột Nậm) and Xên Bản rite | Features the annual village tutelary ceremony, carrying water from the Nậm Ca stream and the hill ponds to bathe the stupa base, tying wrist threads for good fortune and splashing water blessings amid lively lăm vông dances. |
The most distinctive celebration in Mường Và is the Khẩu Hó Festival (New Rice Festival) held on the full moon of the eighth lunar month. Fragrant packets of newly harvested sticky rice wrapped in wild banana leaves are reverently placed by Lao elders and mothers on the altar at the base of the four-hundred-year-old stupa, expressing gratitude to heaven and earth for bountiful harvests. Following the rites atop the hill, the entire village resounds with raft mouth-organs (khèn bè), drums, gongs and graceful lăm vông circles beside the ponds below.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Bản Mường Và, xã Sốp Cộp (trước năm 2025 là xã Mường Và, huyện Sốp Cộp), tỉnh Sơn La
- Getting there
- From the provincial center of Sơn La (Tô Hiệu ward), follow National Highway 6 and National Highway 4G past Sông Mã for about 110 km to reach the center of Sốp Cộp commune (the former Sốp Cộp township), then continue southeast for about 7.5 km along the paved inter-village road to reach Mường Và village and the hill of Mường Và Stupa.
- Coordinates
- 20.89736, 103.61414
When visiting and venerating Mường Và Stupa in Mường Và village, you are asked to dress modestly and walk and speak quietly while ascending the stone steps to the hilltop. Because the stupa is a 17th-century Buddhist monument built of handmade brick and cane-molasses mortar, please do not climb onto the pedestal, write on the walls or pry loose bricks or stucco. When walking around the ponds at the foot of the hill and through Mường Và village, please respect the customs and daily life of the local Lao community.
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VIIContribute To This Page
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?Quick Questions
When was Mường Và Stupa built and how tall is it?
Mường Và Stupa was built around the 17th century (more than 400 years ago). Designed as a five-tiered pen-tower rising about 13 meters high, it stands atop a man-made earthen hill rising 15 to 17 meters above the surrounding rice fields.
How was the hill beneath Mường Và Stupa formed?
According to local historical tradition, in the 17th century a geomancer advised chieftain Chẩu Hua and the villagers to excavate earth around the site to heap up an artificial hill in the center of the village for a pagoda and stupa. The excavated pits filled with water to become the large ponds ringing the hill today.
What makes the building materials and decorative reliefs of Mường Và Stupa special?
The stupa is built solid of large red terracotta bricks (35 cm long, 15 cm wide and 6 cm thick) bound with lime-and-sand mortar mixed with sugarcane molasses without cement. Its four faces are adorned with reliefs of chrysanthemums, bodhi leaves, scrolling vines, stylized dragons and mountain-climbing elephants, crowned by a lotus bud.
Which traditional festivals of the Lao people are celebrated at Mường Và Stupa?
The stupa is the ceremonial center for traditional Lao festivals in Mường Và village, including the Khẩu Hó Festival (New Rice Festival on the full moon of the eighth lunar month), the Khẩu Hoắt and Ọc Hoắt rites (marking the Buddhist rains retreat) and the Water Splashing Festival (Bun Huột Nậm).
Following the 2025 administrative reorganization, which commune does Mường Và Stupa belong to?
Under Resolution No. 1681/NQ-UBTVQH15 in 2025, the former Mường Và commune, Nậm Lạnh commune and Sốp Cộp township of Sốp Cộp district were merged into the new Sốp Cộp commune. Mường Và Stupa is now located in Mường Và village, Sốp Cộp commune, Sơn La province.