Since ten years, the city of Luang Prabang in northern Laos has been the centre of much activity in preserving photographs. The Buddhist Archive of Photography, situated in the temple Vat Suvanna Khili, was founded in 2007, and it holds around 35,000 photographs today. The archive covers a century of Buddhist photography, making it a significant asset of the photographic heritage of Laos. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the Luang Prabang elite, among it members of the royal family and Buddhist monks, was taking photographs. The monk and later Venerable Abbot Phra Khamchan Virachitto collected photographs even during the period when images linked to royalty or religious practice represented a danger and when most of the elite perished or were exiled. His photographs have survived loss, dispersion and destruction that afflicted many other historic collections in South East Asia as a result of 20th century political and social upheaval The Venerable Abbot's collection has always been endangered, and much material has been lost. The tropical climate of Laos and much handling over the years has also caused a high level of physical, chemical and biological deterioration. However, the fact that the Venerable Abbot was essentially hiding his collection has led to the survival of many images until this day.