This tourist sight is located in Phnom Penh. For tourist information about Phnom Penh, go to Phnom Penh Travel Guide. To prepare for a trip to Cambodia, read also the Cambodia Travel Guide.
The Independence Monument, or Vimean Akareach in Khmer, is a Phnom Penh tourist attraction located at the intersection of Norodom and Sihanouk Boulevards. This "pineapple-shaped" monument represents a lotus, and to me, is reminiscent of Angkor Wat. It was build to celebrate Cambodia's independence from France in 1953. It is now also a memorial to Cambodia's war dead (and those the present government considers worthy of remembering). Visitors are forbidden from crossing the small barriers around it, however.
