Wat Phnom – Phnom Penh

Wat Phnom (Khmer: វត្តភ្នំ; “Mountain Pagoda”) is a Buddhist temple (Wat) is a pagoda that symbolizes the name of Phnom Penh, a historical site in the record of Khmer national identity. Wat Phnom Doun Penh has a total height of 46 meters equal to the height of feet (150ft). The pagoda is named after grandmother “Doun Penh” who has the story of the discovery of the four statues.

In 1372, a wealthy old lady named “Doun Penh” lived on a small hill near the bank of the confluence of the four rivers. One day, when it was raining, Doun Penh went down to the port to take a bath and saw a floating Koki tree in the river and fished it from the water. She took a piece of wood to scrape off the mud and in the hole of the Koki tree, there were four Buddha statues made of bronze and brass and one made of marble. Another statue was in the form of Vishnu with the hands holding a staff, a chain, a snail, and a lotus flower. Doun Penh ask the villagers to help retrieve the Koki tree and receive the four treasures. Later, Doun Penh assigned the villagers to build a hermitage on top of a small mountain and to place the four statues there as a place of worship. She invited monks to pray for the statues and the monks named the hermitage “Wat Phnom” which is known to this day.

The sanctuary itself was rebuilt several times in the 19th century and again in 1926. The interior has a central altar complex with a large bronze seated Buddha surrounded by other statues, flowers, candles and items of devotion and worship. The walls are covered with murals, especially of Jataka stories of the Buddha’s earlier reincarnations before his enlightenment. There are also murals depicting stories from the Reamker, the Khmer version of the Ramayana.

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