Wat Phnom

Wat Phnom stands on an artificial hill about twenty-seven metres high, the highest point of Phnom Penh and the place from which the city began. Legend has it that in 1372 a widow named Penh fished a koki trunk with four bronze figures of the Buddha out of the river and raised a hill for them, and the settlement took the name of Penh's hill. In 1422 King Ponhea Yat moved the capital here from Angkor, and his ashes are kept in a large stupa beside the main hall. The present vihara was rebuilt in 1926, and inside the walls and ceiling are covered from end to end with scenes from the jataka tales. On the eastern side a wide staircase leads up the hill, with naga balustrades and stone lions at the top.

On the map