Angkor National Museum

The Angkor National Museum (សារមន្ទីរជាតិអង្គរ) is a museum of Angkorian art in the town of Siem Reap, near the temples of Angkor. Prime Minister Hun Sen opened it in November 2007.

The Angkor National Museum in Siem Reap, 2010. Photo: Jensre, CC BY-SA 3.0

Heritage site details
Khmer name	សារមន្ទីរជាតិអង្គរ
Site type	Museum
Location	Siem Reap town, Siem Reap province
Country	Cambodia
Period	Opened November 2007
Subjects	History & Remembrance; Visual Arts & Design

Ownership

The museum was built by Vilailuck International Holding, a company based in Bangkok whose parent group holds a controlling share in the Thai telecommunications firm Samart. Under a contract with the Cambodian government, the company built the museum and manages it for 30 years before handing it over to Cambodia. Cambodia owns the objects on display and is responsible for their care and for the security of the building. The Phnom Penh Post wrote in 2008 that the original investment of US$5 million had reportedly tripled because of cost overruns. The company's figure, given to The Cambodia Daily, was $15 million for a building of 10,000 square meters (108,000 square feet). A shopping arcade, almost as large, is attached to it, on about 4 hectares (10 acres) of land.

The arrangement drew criticism when the museum opened. Some questioned calling a privately run museum "national". Others objected that the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh had to send pieces from its own collection. The International Herald Tribune accused the museum of misusing the names "national" and "Angkor" and of being run for profit.

Collection

The National Museum in Phnom Penh sent about 700 pieces to the new museum. Most were small statues of the Buddha from the 18th to the 20th century. In November 2007 the government set up a committee to oversee the museum, led by Bun Narith, the head of the APSARA National Authority. With advice from UNESCO, it sent 23 important pieces back to Phnom Penh, among them rare objects from before the Angkor period. Sculptures from Banteay Srei that had stood beside the main staircase also went back.

The museum has eight galleries, each with its own lighting and design. In the gallery of 1,000 Buddhas, small statues sit in niches covering the walls of a dark room, each lit on its own. The Bayon gallery has a pit where restorers repair objects in front of visitors. The Angkor Wat gallery has a round room with a model of the temple and a short film on a large screen. Lintels and religious statues from Ov Laok, a 7th-century temple near Bakong, are on display, with a statue of Vishnu from before the Angkor period.

In 2008 Chhan Chamroeun, the director in charge of the collection, told the Phnom Penh Post that most of the objects had been borrowed from Cambodian museums, collections and stores, where they had been kept out of sight. That year the museum let Cambodians in free during Pchum Ben if they gave clothes, books or other goods for five orphanages in the town.

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