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.
Wat Phnom is located to the north of Phnom Penh, not far from the banks of the Sap river. It is probably the most important temple in Phnom Penh, for it was this temple that gave its name to the capital. According to popular belief, around six centuries ago, a wealthy Cambodian woman called Penh found some Buddha figurines wahsed up on the bank of the Sap river. Being pious, she had a temple constructed to house them on top of a nearby hill. Although the "hill" is just a mound of 27 m (88 ft) high, it is still the highest point in the vicinity, and so its name came to be Phnom Penh, or Penh Hill.
Wat Phnom can be entered from the east via a flight of stairs flanked on both sides with naga balustrades. The main vihara, or temple sanctuary, has been rebuilt several times, the most recent in 1926. It has murals from the Reamker, the Khmer version of the Ramayana.
In a small pavilion to the south is a statue of Penh, the temple's founder. Although dedicated to Theravada Buddhism, Wat Phnom is eclectic, housing in the same compound a shrine to Preah Chau, representations of Confucious, two Chinese sages, and even the Hindu deity Vishnu. A large stupa to the west of the vihara contains the ashes of King Ponhea Yat (1405-67).
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