Heritage site
Silver Pagoda
The Silver Pagoda is the royal temple of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, used for Buddhist ceremonies of the king and the royal family.[1][2][3] It is also called Wat Preah Keo Morakot, "the Temple of the Emerald Buddha," and locals often shorten it to Wat Preah Keo.[4][2] Its popular name comes from the 5,329 silver tiles on its floor.[4]
History
King Norodom founded the temple. The first temple, library and Reamker galleries were built between 1892 and 1902, mainly of wood and brick, in a Cambodian style.[5][4] The ceremony marking its boundary stones was held on February 5, 1903.[5] Lonely Planet dates the first wooden building to 1892 and suggests that King Norodom took Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok as his model. Kupi.com dates the start of building to 1866.[6][2] The first building was meant to hold the ashes of the royal family and to host Buddhist ceremonies attended by royalty.[3]
An equestrian statue of King Norodom, finished in Paris by the French artist Eude in 1875, was set up on the grounds in 1892.[4] The compound grew in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with stupas, shrines, a library and the painted gallery.[3] King Norodom's stupa was added in 1908, and the Kantha Bopha memorial sanctuary in 1960.[4] Under King Sisowath, a gold statue of the late King Norodom stood inside on a large pedestal beneath a nine-tiered parasol. Its eyes were two large diamonds, and Buddha images of rare materials were set around it.[7] Sisowath liked to talk over Buddhist teachings and disputes with the monks there.[7]
Tourism Cambodia gives the temple's former name as Wat Uborsoth Rotannaram, because the king worshipped and prayed there and kept each Buddhist precept day there. King Norodom Sihanouk lived at the temple for a year after he entered the monkhood on July 31, 1947.[5]
In 1962, under Queen Mother Kossamak Nearyreath and King Norodom Sihanouk, the temple was taken down and rebuilt on the same site in reinforced concrete.[5][8] The rebuilding kept the earlier design, adding Italian marble to the columns and silver tiles to the floor.[5][8] Kupi.com adds that part of the palace complex, including the pagoda, was rebuilt in stone between 1912 and 1917.[2]
During the Khmer Rouge period, from 1975 to 1979, many of the temple's treasures were looted, while the regime kept much of the collection for propaganda.[4][3] Lonely Planet records that more than half of the contents were lost, stolen or destroyed in the turmoil after the Vietnamese invasion, and Go Cambodia Tours puts the loss at nearly 60 percent.[6][9]
Architecture and layout
The Silver Pagoda stands in the southern part of Phnom Penh's Royal Palace complex.[5] A walled walkway inside the larger compound separates it from the palace.[4] It faces Samdech Sothearos Boulevard, near where the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers meet.[8] The compound holds the main temple, a library, stupas, shrines, monuments, smaller buildings, gardens and the Reamker galleries.[4]
The main hall stands slightly above its courtyard, with a tiered tile roof, carved pediments and finials, and a high central sanctuary flanked by open galleries and smaller shrines.[8] The staircase to the hall is Italian marble.[6] The floor is covered with 5,329 handmade silver tiles, and only a small area near the entrance is left uncovered for visitors.[4][1] Canby Publications gives each tile a weight of 1.125 kilograms (2.5 pounds). Lonely Planet puts the floor at five tonnes (5.5 short tons) of silver in about 5,000 tiles, most of them covered for protection.[4][6]
The library beside the main temple keeps sacred Buddhist texts, including the Tripitaka, and a metal statue of the bull Nandin, mostly of silver, found in Kandal Province in 1983.[4] The Dhammasala is an open hall where monks recite texts and royal guests are received. The Keong Preah Bath shrine holds footprints of the Buddha.[4] Phnom Mondop, an artificial hill standing for Mount Kailassa, is topped by a shrine with a large Buddha footprint and 108 Buddha images for the Buddha's 108 past lives.[4] Two towers beside the King Norodom statue are the tombs of King Ang Duong and King Norodom.[9][4] The grounds also hold the stupa of King Norodom Suramarit and Queen Kossomak, and the stupa of Princess Norodom Kantha Bopha, built in 1960.[4]
Art and inscriptions
The pagoda holds about 1,650 art objects, chiefly Buddha images of gold, silver, bronze and other valuable materials, some of them set with diamonds.[5][4] Go Cambodia Tours gives more than 1,050 treasures.[9] Many were offerings from Cambodian royalty, including Queen Kossomak Nearyrith, and from dignitaries and other worshippers.[5][4] Others are gifts to Cambodia's monarchs from foreign heads of state.[6]
The central image, the Emerald Buddha, is a small green Buddha image. It sits on a gilded dais above the other images and gives the temple its Khmer name, Preah Vihear Preah Keo Morakot.[5][4][1] Accounts of its material differ: Tourism Cambodia calls it emerald, Lonely Planet calls it Baccarat crystal, and Canby Publications gives both accounts.[5][6][4] Indochina Voyages calls it crystal, not a true emerald, and says the Baccarat attribution is debated.[1]
In front of it stands a life-sized gold Maitreya Buddha image weighing 90 kilograms (198 pounds), dressed in royal regalia. King Sisowath commissioned it in 1904, and it was made in the palace workshops in 1906 and 1907.[5][6][4][3] Go Cambodia Tours gives 9,584 diamonds on it, and Canby Publications, Lonely Planet and Tourism Cambodia give 2,086.[9][4][6][5] Indochina Voyages accounts for both figures: the image was first set with 9,584 diamonds, and about 2,086 are commonly cited as remaining after losses during decades of conflict.[1] A 25-carat diamond is set in the crown and a 20-carat diamond in the chest.[4] Directly in front of the gold image, a small gold and silver stupa holds a relic of the Buddha from Sri Lanka.[6][4] The hall also holds an 80-kilogram (176-pound) bronze Buddha image, a silver Buddha image, gold figurines telling the life of the Buddha, and masks used in classical dance.[6] Go Cambodia Tours lists a throne with 23 kilograms (51 pounds) of gold plating, carried by eight to 12 people in the king's coronation procession.[9]
The inner walls of the surrounding gallery are covered with a Reamker mural 642 meters (2,106 feet) long and 3 meters (9.8 feet) high, which tells the Khmer version of the Ramayana from beginning to end.[5][10][4] It was painted in 1903 and 1904 by 40 Cambodian artists under the direction of Oknha Tep Nimit.[5][10] Canby Publications names the artist Vichitre Chea and the architect Oknha Tep Nimit Thneak as leaders of the work.[4] The sequence begins at the south end of the eastern gallery and winds around the gallery.[5][1] Its composition differs in some scenes from the Indian Ramayana, reflecting the Cambodian form of the epic.[5]
Religious life
Unlike an ordinary monastery, the pagoda has no resident monks.[5][4] It serves as a royal chapel where the king meets monks to hear their sermons and where royal ceremonies are held.[4] Before Phnom Penh's Pali School opened, monks studied the Pali language in classes held along the gallery, which served as classrooms for monks in the 1930s.[5][4] The cremated remains of King Norodom Sihanouk were interred in a stupa at the Silver Pagoda on July 12, 2014.[11] Indochina Voyages names it as the stupa of Princess Norodom Kantha Bopha.[1]
Significance and conservation
The temple serves less as an active place of worship than as a store of cultural and religious treasures.[4]
Weather, water seeping through the walls and damage by visitors have worn the murals.[5][10] In 1985, the Cambodian government worked with the Polish government on a project to protect and restore the Reamker paintings. It ran for five years and ended when its budget was cut.[5][10] Canby Publications dates renovation of the murals to 1985 through 1987.[4] Lonely Planet says much of the mural has undergone restoration.[6]
Visiting
The visitor entrance is on Samdech Sothearos Boulevard near Oknha Chhun Street (Street 240).[8] Stone paving and stairs lead up to the main hall.[8] In 1997, Canby Publications gave opening hours of 8:00 to 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. daily. In 2024, Kupi.com listed 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with changes for official ceremonies and national holidays.[4][2] Shoulders and knees must be covered, and photography is not allowed inside the main hall.[2][6][3] The National Museum of Cambodia is about 0.5 kilometers (0.3 miles) away.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Indochina Voyages, Silver Pagoda Phnom Penh: Complete guide (undated)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Kupi.com, Silver Pagoda Phnom Penh - Cambodia (2024-04-04)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 wondersofcambodia.com, The Silver Pagoda: A Royal Jewel of Cambodia's Heritage (2025-07-29)
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 4.20 4.21 4.22 4.23 4.24 4.25 4.26 4.27 4.28 4.29 4.30 canbypublications.com, Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda - Phnom Penh - Canby Publications (1997-01-01)
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 5.19 tourismcambodia.com, Silver Pagoda, Attraction in Phnom Penh - Tourism Cambodia
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 Lonely Planet, The Royal Palace (undated)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Angkor Database, Visions d'Extrême-Orient, Corée, Chine, Indochine, Siam (2024-03-06)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 ad-hoc-news.de, Wat Preah Keo Morakot and the silver floor of Phnom Penh's Royal Palace (2026-09-01)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Go Cambodia Tours, Silver Pagoda in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (2016-11-24)
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 The Phnom Penh Post, Ancient art battles on (August 30, 2002)
- ↑ Global Times, from Xinhua, Late Cambodian King Sihanouk's ashes enshrined in stupa in Royal Palace (July 12, 2014)