This wat , in the remote town of That Phanom, is the most revered shrine in Northeast Thailand, famous for its central, Lao-style brick and plaster chedi . The chedi  was constructed some 1,500 years ago, although according to legend it was built eight years after the death of the Buddha in 535 BC, when local dignitaries erected it as a burial place for his breastbone. The monument has been restored many times, most recently after devastating rains in 1975. Each year at the full moon of the third lunar month, during a farming holiday, a week-long temple festival attracts thousands of pilgrims from Thailand and Laos.