Heritage site
Chaktomuk Conference Hall
The Chaktomuk Conference Hall, also known as the Chaktomuk Theatre, is a fan-shaped hall on Sisowath Quay in Phnom Penh, near the Royal Palace. It was designed by the architect Vann Molyvann and opened in 1961.[1][2] Vann Molyvann tied its design to its site at Chaktomuk, the "four faces", where the Mekong, the Tonle Sap and the Bassac rivers meet.[3]
History
The Vann Molyvann Project, which documents the architect's work, gives the hall's first event as the Sixth Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in 1961.[2] The travel guide Tourism Cambodia gives its first name as La Salle de Conférence Chaktomuk.[4] Over the years it has held conferences, performances and speeches by the king.[2][1] From August 15 to 19, 1979, it served as the courtroom for the People's Revolutionary Tribunal, which tried Pol Pot and Ieng Sary for genocide in their absence. The Phnom Penh Post wrote in 2007 that scholars of Cambodia generally dismiss it as a political show trial, while others defend it as important.[5][1]
Tourism Cambodia writes that the hall was set aside in 1991 to become a restaurant. It became a theater again in 1994, after fire gutted the National Theatre that year.[4][6] The hall was renovated in 2000, with some changes, to give it conference facilities of international standard.[2][4] By Tourism Cambodia's account it holds 592 seats and is used only for programs run by the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, mostly conferences, lectures and some performances.[4]
Design
Vann Molyvann saw the design as a new reading of the roofs of the nearby Royal Palace. Eight gabled roofs spread across a plan shaped like a quarter circle, and the fan form, which recalls a palm leaf, gives the seats a clear view of the stage.[2] The building stands on pillars under a pointed roof, and its concrete frame of triangles radiates outward.[1]
On the street side, heavy concrete trusses hold up the raised first floor and carry the line of the gables down to it. The V shape of these trusses is repeated in other supports, in the cornices and in the railings. The hall has three façades, one to the street and two to the rivers, and the building looks out over the meeting of the waters through 270 degrees. A traditional spire rises from the corner of the two river façades.[2][7]
The historian Ingrid Muan, quoted in the docomomo journal, wrote that Vann Molyvann gave the hall "all faces" and "no back". In her reading, the building reflects the neutrality with which Sihanouk's Cambodia tried to face every direction during the Cold War.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Phnom Penh Post, Celebrating the past (April 3, 2008)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 The Vann Molyvann Project, Chaktomuk Conference Hall (undated)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 docomomo journal, Pen Sereypagna, New Khmer Architecture: Modern Movement in Cambodia between 1953 and 1970 (issue 57, 2017)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Tourism Cambodia, Chaktomuk Conference Hall, Attraction in Phnom Penh (undated)
- ↑ The Phnom Penh Post, Looking back at the 1979 People's Revolutionary Tribunal (January 26, 2007)
- ↑ The Phnom Penh Post, Last act for Bassac Theater (August 23, 2007)
- ↑ Atlas Obscura, Vittoria Traverso, The Architect Who Married Modernism and Ancient Khmer Style (October 13, 2017)