where to visit in Phnom Penh city

Phnom Penh, once ‘Paris of the east’, is a city of opposites, a modern South-east Asian capital which retains the laid-back charm of its colonial past. Phnom Penh (‘Penh’s mountain’) is named after its legendary founder, a rich 13th century landowner named Penh. The leafy Wat Phnom commemorates her discovery of several Buddha idols in the nearby Tonle Sap river. 

 

Royal Palace

The Royal Palace was built in 1866 under the reign of King Norodom and located along the Sothearos Boulevard.

Inside the Royal Palace, there are:

• Tevia Vinichhay Temple: The place where the King is one throne.
• Khemarin Temple: The place where the King and Queen live.
• Somran Phirum Temple: The place where keeping the throne objects and Accessories. 
• Chan Chhnya: The Royal dance hall for king and relatives and high- ranking officers. In front of the Royal dance hall, there is a platform for the King to hold the meeting with people and levels of officials.
• Wat Preah Keo Morakot: Had been built since 1892 to 1902 imitated the Cambodia architect, and was removed and reconstructed in 1962. We called Wat Uborsoth Rotannaream where as the King of Cambodia hold in of Kings and officers held other ceremonies abide with Buddhism. In this Wat does not have any monk, but only his majesty Preah Bat Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk there, at the time being a priest for a term (in the year of pig AD2490 correspondence the 31th July 1947).

silver pagoda

Also called the Pagoda of the Emerald Buddha, it is located in the compound of the Royal Palace. Inside, its floor is constructed of 5000 silver blocks. In the center of the pagoda, there is a magnificent 17th-century emerald Buddha statue made of baccarat crystal. The walls enclosing the pagoda are covered with frescoes depicting episodes from the Khmer version of the Ramayana.

 

National Museum

The National Museum of Phnom Penh is instantly recognizable, with its warm red terracotta and its gracefully curved roof topped by dozens of guardian nagas. Located just north of the Royal Palace, off the street of Artists (178 Steet), it was designed in 1917 by famed French architect George Groslier and the Ecole des Arts Cambodgiens, who made the most of traditional Khmer style. It was inaugurated by King Sisowath in 1920.

 

Wat Phnom 

Located a short distance from the Royal Palace, the heart of the capital Wat Phnom is popular with Cambodians and tourists alike. It is the center of Phnom Penh that gives the city its name. At 27 meters above sea level, it is the highest point in the area, and, as town gradually grew up around it, the settlement became known as Phnom Penh, the hill of Penh. It is zero point of the city.

 

Tuol Sleng Genocidal Museum

Tuol Sleng Genocidal Museum is the former Tuol Sleng High School. In 1975, during the Khmer Rouge regime, the school was used as a prison and torture center, known at the time as S-21. Thousands of Cambodians and a number of foreigners were housed and tortured there until they were executed. Today the site is a museum, where visitors can walk among some of the cells and look at the photos of hundreds of people who died there. There are also paintings, painted by artist Vann Vath, a former prisoner, that depict the torture of prisoners.

More places and photos, go to Gosiemreap.com