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Phnom Penh's history begins with the Lady
Penh who discovered five Buddha images concealed in a tree,
had a pagoda named Wat Phnom Don Penh built on the same spot.
The city was founded nearly a century later, taking its name
from the pagoda, that became the capital in 1866.
Following its recent traumatic history, parks,
gardens and elegant villas are now being restored, tree-lined
boulevards still reflect the elegance of the city's French
colonial past, and camera-clicking tourists sit in pedicabs
("cyclos") which weave their way leisurely through
the increasing numbers of cars and motorcycles. This pleasant
scene, coupled with the current bustle of optimistic commerce,
belies the chilling fact that the city stood abandoned and
empty from 1975-1979 during the forced evacuation by the detested
Khmer Rouge
Tuol Sleng Museum
Originally built as a secondary school named
Tuol Svay Prey High School in 1960, during the reign of Preah
Batnorodom Sihanouk. The Khmer Rouge converted this into a
torture and interrogation centre to extract 'confessions'
of anti-government sentiment. Many victims were women and
children incarcerated along with the 'suspected' father. Documents
recovered indicate that over 17,000 persons had been imprisoned
there between1975 and 1978, only seven of whom are known to
have survived.
The others, once the 'confession' had been
extracted under torture, were transported to Choeung Ek for
execution. Records show that the highest figure was on 27
May 1978, when 582 persons were sent to their death. The museum
was established in 1979 after the Vietnamese invasion, and
the Khmer Rouge's meticulous photographic records of their
victims are exhibited as tragic testimony to those who suffered
and died in their hands.
Choeung Ek Execution Area
15km southwest of the city centre is one
of the many sites of Khmer Rouge mass executions. The exhumed
skulls of some 8,000 souls, arranged by sex and age, are displayed
behind glass panels in the Memorial Stupa, which was erected
in 1988. Although some were killed and buried at Toul Sleng,
most victims were driven out to Choeung Ek at night by truck.
Some were made to dig their own graves before
being clubbed to death with any heavy instrument available.
In addition to those exhumed, another 43 pits have been left
undisturbed and the final shocking total can only be guessed.
The pleasant orchard setting does little to dispel the horror
engendered by this grim sight, as Choeung Ek is just one of
thousands of recorded mass grave sites throughout the country,
and is by no means, the largest. On May 9th each year a memorial
service is conducted at the stupa, in memory of the estimated
1.7 million people who died during the genocide.
Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda
Built in 1866, the site contains various
buildings of interest, including the Khmer-style Throne Hall,
now used for special ceremonial occasions. South of the Throne
Hall are the Royal Treasury and the Villa of Napoleon III,
built in Egypt in 1866, for the opening of the Suez Canal,
and was later presented to the Cambodian king as a gift. The
famous Silver Pagoda, originally constructed of wood in 1866,
was expanded in 1962 by King Sihanouk who had the floor inlaid
with 5,329 solid silver tiles, hence its name. The most revered
image is the Emerald Buddha, made of Baccarat crystal and
dating back to the 17th century. Behind it, another Buddha
statue was cast in 1906, utilizing 90 kg of gold, and decorated
with 9,584 diamonds. Cabinets along the perimeter contain
gifts presented to royalty and dignitaries. Along the inside
of the recently restored 600-metre external wall is a colorful
mural depicting scenes from the Reamker, the Khmer version
of the Ramayana.
National Museum of Arts
North of the palace grounds, the building
was designed in Khmer-style, in 1920, by a French architect,
and contains important artifacts and sculptures from the Angkor
era and earlier.
Wat Ounalom
Built in 1443 to enshrine a sacred hair of
the Buddha, and located north of the National Museum of Arts,
this temple is considered the seat of Cambodian Buddhism.
When the Khmer Rouge evacuated Phnom Penh in 1975, they vandalized
the building and murdered the Abbot along with many of the
500 monks who lived there.
Wat Phnom
On a hill to the north of the city, and restored
or reconstructed in 1434, 1806, 1894 and 1926, Wat Phnom is
a symbol of the capital city Phnom Penh and regularly used
for prayer, small offerings, and meditation.
Independence Monument
It commemorates the end of French's rule
over Cambodia in 1953. The one hundred nagas and motifs can
be seen in historic, cultural and modern day. It is also used
to commemorate the souls of fallen to combatants who down
their lives for the country's freedom.
Oudong
Located to the north approximately 40km from
Phnom Penh, and located on a hill overlooking vast plains,
this site is famous for cultural patrimonies and used to be
a capital city between1618-1866.
Phnom Tamao Zoo
This recently opened zoo and wildlife rescue
centre, 40km outside the city, was set up to preserve and
rescue rare and endangered local wildlife including tiger,
lion, deer, bear, peacock, heron, crocodile and turtle. Eighty
hectares of the total area have been established as a national
zoo and up to 1,200 hectares have been reserved for its future
extension and development.
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