Discover Phnom Penh through a wide variety of details: the National Museum of Cambodia brings together Khmer art and ethnographic collections in a traditionally designed terracotta building. Central Market displays a broad range of goods, while Wat Phnom sits on a tree-covered hill. The city is also home to an independence monument and a site whose history is linked to S-21 prison. Those interested in art, architecture and history will find a variety of starting points for their own explorations here.
National Museum of Cambodia: Building History and Collection
The National Museum of Cambodia is located north of the Royal Palace on Street 13 in central Phnom Penh. The traditionally designed terracotta building was constructed from 1917 to 1920. The collection includes Khmer sculptures, ceramics and ethnographic objects from prehistoric times, as well as from the pre-Angkorian, Angkorian and post-Angkorian periods. The museum also displays ceramics and bronzes from the Funan and Chenla periods, the Indravraman and classical Angkor periods, and more recent works.
Highlights include an eight-armed statue of Vishnu from the 6th or 7th century, a statue of Shiva dating to around 877–866, and a seated statue of Jayavarman VII from around 1181–1218. These examples bring the collection’s chronological breadth into focus through individual works.
You can arrange a guided tour at the museum entrance, either as an individual or for a group. Tours are offered in Khmer, English, French and Japanese. Arrangements and languages may change; ask on site about the current options.
Central Market and Wat Phnom
Phsa Thmei, also known as New Market or Central Market, is a dark yellow Art Deco building dating from 1935 to 1937. Its four wings house numerous stalls selling gold and silver jewelry, antique coins, clothing, watches, flowers, food, fabrics, shoes and luggage. The building’s history and the range of goods offer two concrete perspectives on the same market.
Wat Phnom sits on a 27-meter-high, tree-covered hill. The main entrance leads up a large eastern staircase lined with lions and naga balustrades. The height of the hill and the staircase are two clearly identifiable features of the site.
Places of Historical Remembrance
The Independence Monument was built in 1958 to commemorate Cambodia’s independence from France, achieved in 1953. The monument’s specific date of construction thus commemorates an earlier historical turning point.
The Tuol Svay Prey High School tells a different story: in 1975, it was taken over by Pol Pot’s security forces and turned into a prison called Security Prison 21 (S-21). It became the country’s largest detention and torture center of its kind. The site’s history traces its transformation from a school to a prison.
Cambodia on a Larger Scale
Looking beyond the city to Cambodia as a wider travel destination brings landscapes and cultural sites into view beyond urban attractions. Tonle Lake is a significant topographical feature of the country and is fed by the Mekong and the Tonle Sap River. The Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve encompasses the lake, surrounding floodplains and freshwater marshes, as well as seasonally flooded rice fields and grasslands.
Angkor covers about 400 square kilometers. The area includes numerous temples, waterworks such as basins, dams, reservoirs and canals, as well as roads. The temple monuments and surrounding jungle offer opportunities for photography. Sambor Prei Kuk has a different emphasis: its temple zone contains 186 brick temples with sandstone details. Its distinctive artistic style combines Hindu, animist and Buddhist elements and foreshadowed the Khmer style later developed at Angkor.
The temple of Preah Vihear is dedicated to Shiva. Several sanctuaries are connected by paths and stairways along an 800-meter-long axis; the temple lies at the edge of a plateau overlooking Cambodia’s plains. These examples highlight different cultural and geographical features of Cambodia without combining the sites into a single attraction.
Discover More Destinations
Discover more destinations: Phnom Penh, Takéo Province, Kampot Province, Pursat, Banteay Meanchey, Kompong Chhnang, Battambang, Steung Treng Province.
For the broader travel overview: Cambodia.
