The 5 Best Museums in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Phnom Penh’s range of museums offer a fascinating insight into Cambodian culture and heritage, and its turbulent past. Here are five museums to add to your itinerary of activities in the Cambodian capital.

Located next to the Royal Palace, the National Museum of Cambodia is home to more than 5,000 artefacts dating back to the ancient Angkorian period. Various rooms display a range of rare statues, lingas and other items, including the Leper King from Siem Reap and a giant 11th-century bronze Vishnu. It equips visitors with some great knowledge ahead of a trip to Angkor Wat Archaeological Park.

The Royal Palace serves as the King’s residence, a venue for court ceremony and a symbol of the Kingdom. Selected areas are open to the public. The palace compound is also home to the Silver Pagoda, a renowned temple that takes prominent place on the riverside and is named for its gleaming silver floor. Guests can stroll through the manicured gardens and discover the ornate temples, libraries and galleries inside the palace grounds.

Between 1975 and 1979, the Pol Pot-led Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia, with an estimated two million people killed or dying from starvation and exhaustion. Almost 9,000 bodies were discovered at the mass graves of Choeung Ek, more commonly known as the Killing Fields. Now serving as a memorial, the site features a Buddhist stupa filled with human skulls retrieved from the fields. Visitors can walk around the exhumed graves and learn more through a headset-guided walking tour.

The Killing Fields as a tourist site

While remembering the past – and learning from it – is essential, there is a global debate raging about whether profiteering off dark tourism sites such as this is educational or exploitative.

Either way, visitors are urged to be respectful during their visit and remember where they are. Dress appropriately, don’t snap disrespectful selfies in front of skulls or bones and don’t smoke, drink or eat while touring the site.

Choeung Ek sits about 17 kilometres south of the capital, Phnom Penh. A tuk tuk will take about 40 minutes from central Phnom Penh and costs about $15-20. Entry is $5 ($3 for 10- to 18-year-olds), which includes the audio tour in several languages.

Phnom Penh Hop On Hop Off offers shuttle-bus tours that pick guests up from their hotel.

Several small eateries and stalls selling drinks and snacks can be found at the entrance.

Impact

It’s hard to imagine the former longan orchard is a place that harbours such horror. Birdsong rises from the trees, the gentle breeze wafts through the manicured fields, flowers are in bloom, shimmering paddies surround the site and life goes on.

However, this isn’t any orchard in Cambodia; it acted as the Khmer Rouge’s main killing field and horrific reminders can be found at every step, making a visit to Choeung Ek a sobering one. Comprised of 129 communal graves, 43 have been left untouched. The many bone fragments, teeth and scraps of bloodied cloth retrieved sit in glass containers for visitors to see.

An audio tour guides visitors around the site with compelling stories from survivors, guards and executioners. A visit to the Killing Fields is harrowing, emotional and draining, however, it offers a compelling insight into a fraction of the atrocities that took place across the country under the genocidal regime.

Choeung Ek was transformed into a memorial site and tourist attraction in a bid to educate Cambodians – and the world – about what happened, while serving as a way to commemorate those who died. On May 9 every year, a memorial ceremony is held at the Killing Fields.

Each year, Khmer Rouge survivors and their relatives, officials, students from across Phnom Penh and other Cambodians gather at the Buddhist Stupor to remember the dead.

The History of Cambodia's Killing Fields

During the Khmer Rouge reign, from 1975 to 1979, an estimated 1.7 to 2.5 million Cambodians died through execution, starvation or disease. This was almost a quarter of the country’s population. Killing fields dot the country of Cambodia, with more than 20,000 mass grave sites containing more than 1.38 million bodies according to the Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DC-Cam). The largest of the killing fields was Choeung Ek, which sits on the outskirts of Phnom Penh and today serves as a monument to all those who died – and survived. It also serves as an educational tool to ensure history never repeats itself.

One of the darkest times in modern day history took place in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979, when the Pol Pot-led Khmer Rouge regime ruled Cambodia. Promising the country peace after years of civil war and secret bombing campaigns from America, who were embattled in war with Vietnam, Cambodians flocked onto the streets to welcome soldiers during the fall of Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975.

However, the promised peace never came, and residents were immediately rounded up and sent to the countryside as part of the communist regime’s plans to create an agrarian society. Personal possessions were confiscated, money abolished, family ties severed and the almighty Angkar set the brutal laws, which saw the population sent to work the land under appalling conditions.

Toul Sleng – S-21 Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh – was the main political prison, where suspected enemies of Angkar were sent. As Pol Pot and the top commanders’ paranoia spiralled so did the number of Cambodians detained at S-21. Once inside, prisoners were either tortured to death or sent to nearby Choeung Ek for “re-education” – execution. An estimated 12,273 were detained at S-21, with only seven known survivors.

Terrace of the Elephants & Terrace of the Leper King

The Royal Terraces, comprising of the Terrace of the Elephants to the South and the Terrace of the Leper King to the North, form the Eastern boundary of the Royal Palace grounds.

They face the parade grounds where processions, parades and other events were held. The King would watch the events standing on the Elephant terrace, which he also used as an audience hall to listen to the complaints and problems of the citizens of Angkor.

Both terraces contain extensive sculptings of Devatas, Apsaras, mythological animals and demons. The Elephants terrace and the Leper King terrace were restored during the 1990’s and 2000’s by the EFEO.

The Terrace of the Elephants

The Elephants terrace was built by King Jayavarman VII at the end of the 12^thcentury. The terrace stretches out over a length of more than 300 meters from the Baphuon in the South to the Leper King terrace to the North. The terrace is named for the sculptures in high relief of elephants and their mahouts. At several sections large elephant heads protrude out from the wall, their very long trunks forming pillars extending to the ground, similar to those of the gates of Angkor Thom.

The terrace was used as an audience hall and for public ceremonies. According to the accounts of Chinese diplomat Zhou Daguan the King appeared daily on the Elephants terrace to listen to the complaints and problems of the citizens of his Kingdom. The parade grounds in front of the terrace were used as the scene for several festivals, games, processions and parades of the Khmer army watched by the King from the Elephants terrace.

The Elephants terrace consists of inner and outer sections. The inner sections were built first and later became buried under the soil during construction of the outer sections. The well preserved inner walls contain numerous carvings of Apsaras, warriors and animals like multi headed horses. The Northern end of the outside walls contains carvings of sports, such as Polo games, wrestlers and chariot racing. The Central section of the terrace contains carvings of Garudas, Kinnarees and elephants engaged in a hunt, as well as depictions of the Buddha.

The Terrace of the Leper King

The Leper King terrace is named after the “Leper King” statue that was found here. The terrace was built by Jayavarman VII in the late 12^th century, directly North of the Elephants terrace.

The Leper King terrace is believed to be built as a representation of Mount Meru, the center of the universe in Buddhist and Hindu cosmology. The 25 meter long terrace is completely covered with sculptings in high relief. Long rows of seated finely carved figures, mainly of multi headed Naga snakes, armed guardians, Garudas and female celestial beings decorate the walls.

The terrace consists of inner and outer walls. The inner walls were built first and became buried under the soil when the outer walls were constructed. The inner walls contain well preserved sculptings of multi headed Naga serpents, demons, princes and princesses. The outer walls contain carvings like a Palace scene with a sword swallower and Shiva holding a trident.

The “Leper King” statue was found on top of the terrace. According to local belief, the statue was a depiction of King Yasovarman I, who was also known as the Leper King as he suffered from leprosy. It is now assumed that the statue might represent Yama, the God of death. The statue now sitting atop the Leper King terrace is a copy, the original is kept in a museum in Pnomh Pen

                                                  Terrace of the Elephants

Name

Terrace of the Elephants
Terrace of the Leper King

Date

late 12^th century

King

Jayavarman VII

Location

Eastern boundary of Royal Palace grounds

Nearby

Royal Palace, Bayon, Baphuon