Muong Luan Tower National Historical and Cultural Relic (Muong Luan 1 village, Muong Luan commune, Dien Bien province) is a cultural symbol and solidarity between Vietnam and Laos that has just been restored, embellished, and prevented from deterioration.
Accordingly, Muong Luan tower is located on the Ma River, built around the 16th century, an architectural work with cultural and religious features of the Lao ethnic group in Dien Bien province.
However, after nearly 5 centuries of historical changes and harsh weather, the relic has shown signs of deterioration.
According to the elderly in Muong Luan 1 village, in 1939 a very strong earthquake occurred in Muong Luan area that caused the tower to tilt. By 2009, the People's Committee of Dien Bien province had invested more than 5 billion VND to restore, embellish and "ance" this project.
Recently, on April 8, 2024, the People's Committee of Dien Bien province issued Decision No. 695, approving the economic - technical report on investment in the construction of works to support the restoration, embellishment, and prevention of deterioration of national relics of typical value of ethnic minorities (including Muong Luan tower, Chieng So tower, in Muong Luan commune).
Accordingly, the project has a total investment of more than 10.1 billion VND, from the capital of the National Target Program for Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas, period 2021-2025.
The project belongs to group C project, a level III civil project. The implementation period is in 2024-2025, with the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism as the investor.
The investment in supporting the restoration, embellishment, and prevention of deterioration of the architectural and artistic relics of Muong Luan tower and Chieng So tower aims to ensure long-term stability for the tower, limiting the risk of collapse.
In addition, it also contributes to preserving and promoting the value of national historical and cultural values, meeting the cultural and spiritual needs of the people to develop the local economy - society and tourism.
According to the reporter's records at the end of October 2025, the restoration and embellishment items of Muong Luan tower have been completed.
Specifically, the entire body of the tower is cleaned and moss and mold are removed. The broken label points have been restored and reattached. The blurred and broken patterns on the tower body have also been restored.
The one-story reception house with an area of 131 m2 was built. The project has an architecture suitable for the landscape, using materials such as unpaved rough brick walls, black stone tiled roofs, stone floorings and wooden doors.
The main gate and the new fence system are solidly built with reinforced concrete and bricks, ensuring security and aesthetics for the relic.
The project also replaces the entire old iron flower railing with stone railing. Items such as security guards and toilets have been painted and repaired to replace damaged equipment. The tower yard, gate road, and walking path are poured with concrete, paved with stone, and the sloping roof is reinforced, creating a synchronous and spacious landscape.
Muong Luan Tower is built in the shape of a square tower. The lower is large, gradually shrinking up. The tower has a total height of 15m, divided into three main parts: the base of the tower, the tower body and the tower top. The tower is built with bricks, lime, mortar, sand and sugarcane. All materials used to build the tower were exploited on site.
The entire architecture of the tower as well as the most outstanding decorative pattern of the tower are shown in the tower body. The most prominent is the stylized dragon shape built into the shape of a double 8 running around the tower, the 4 sides of the tower all show 5 pairs of dragons.
In 1991, Muong Luan Tower was recognized by the Ministry of Culture and Information (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) as a National Historical and Cultural Relic.
