Phnom Penh Landmarks and Khmer Rouge History
Meet your tour guide at the agreed-upon location and begin the tour.
Head to the top of a tree-covered knoll 27 metres high. Wat Phnom is the only hill in town. According to legend, the first pagoda on this site was erected in 1373 to house four statues of Buddha.
Explore the Royal Palace, which contains some spectacular buildings. Not least among them is the Throne Hall, situated to the left of the main entrance. The Royal Treasury and the Napoleon III villa lie south of the Royal Throne Hall.
Continue to Wat Preah Keo Morakot (Silver Pagoda), located in the southern portion of the Royal Palace complex. The pagoda was formerly known as Wat Uborsoth Rotannaram.
See the Independence Monument, an Angkorian-style tower and a distinctive landmark in the heart of the capital. It was built in 1958.
Learn how, in 1975, Tuol Svay Prey High School was taken over by Pol Pot's security force and turned into a prison known as Security Prison 21 (S-21). It soon became the largest centre of detention and torture in the country. S-21 has since been turned into the Tuol Sleng Museum, which serves as a testament to the crimes of the Khmer Rouge.
Visit the haunting Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, situated 15 kilometres south-west of Phnom Penh and made famous by the film of the same name, "Killing Field". It was a place where more than 17,000 civilians were killed and buried in mass graves. In the centre of the area stands a 17-storey glass stupa that houses 8,000 skulls exhumed from the mass graves (open daily).
