Constructed between 1819 and 1824 within the grounds of the royal palace during the reign of King Anou (), last king of Vientiane, Wat Sisakhet (full name Wat Sisakhetsata Sahatsaham) is the oldest surviving temple in Vientiane. Chao Anou's unsuccessful rebellion against Siamese overlordship in 1827-8 led to the destruction of the royal palace and much of the capital by Siamese troops, but Wat Sisakhet survived - perhaps because of its resemblance to the temples of Bangkok - and continued to function as a monastery during the 19th century, despite the depopulation of the city. The monument was extensively restored by the French colonial authorities in the period . Wat Sisakhet comprises a sim or ordination hall, surrounded by a walled cloister similar to that at Phra That Luang. The four entranceways of this cloister create four L-shaped galleries with a bronze Buddha statue in each corner. Niches in the gallery walls house a total of 6,840 silver and ceramic Buddha images. On the end walls, fragments of murals telling the story of Kalaket and his magical horse are still visible. The black and red lacquered columns of the cloister galleries still retain some of the original stylised stencilled decoration in gold leaf. A cloister store-room houses broken Buddha statue remnants which testify to the destruction of the 1827-8 war. Surrounded by a verandah, the sim itself displays a series of beautiful but badly degraded murals which depict scenes from the Balasankhya jataka; this tells of Prince Pookharabat, who chose an honest thief as his chief minister and defeated his enemies using a magic fan. Like the cloister galleries, niches in the walls house a further 2,052 small ceramic Buddha images, bringing the total in the entire complex to 8,892. On the western side of the temple, just outside the cloister wall, is a raised ho tai (tripitaka library) with a Burmese-style roof where the Buddhist scriptures were once stored. The complex also includes a kuti or sleeping quarters for monks and novices.