Book tickets at the best rates!

The Killing Fields and The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
Phnom Penh and surrounding
Museums, Galleries, Exhibitions
Museums, Galleries, Exhibitions

If you ask a local of Phnom Penh where to go to get to know the city, learn about its history and traditions, hoping for a bright, fun, and easy time, then any local will advise you, smiling, to visit… the Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.

Yes, they will do it with a smile. And this fact says a lot about the mentality of Cambodians, helps to get to know people and their culture better. They sincerely believe that you can cope with any tragedy with the help of a smile. Both in the Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields, all the locals will smile like а Cheshire cat, as if to say: «Yes, this was in our history, but we are moving on».

And there was ... the chaos that the Khmer Rouge created. They came to power in 1975 and quickly began cleansing the local population. The Khmer Rouge exterminated all people: women, children, old people who did not fit the nationality (Vietnamese, Cham), religion, and activities before the regime. Those who were previously engaged in business, worked with foreigners, or in the cultural sphere had the hardest time. In total, the Khmer Rouge killed about 3 million people in Cambodia: from 17 to 20 thousand people in Phnom Penh.

Here, in the building of a normal school, the Khmer Rouge organized a prison for undesirables – S-21. The classrooms of the former school were converted into torture chambers, and the back yard was – into graves. The administration was located in a separate building.

Now there is a museum. All the walls are covered with photos of victims of the regime, the process of torture. Behind glass cases, there are archival documents and manuals for executioners, the Khmer Rouge uniforms, and the type of hairstyle that all residents of the country were required to wear. From time to time, they show films about the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime. However, the worst thing is outside. Here, in memory of the victims of the regime, a stupa was erected. It is surrounded by graves with mountains of bones and skulls.

Address: St 113, Phnom Penh 12304

Published by

Natalia Globenko

All content and media files are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Rating based on 0 reviews
Favoured:
0
Already
6 images
of the The Killing Fields and The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
on 7toucans
See on the map

Book and buy tickets at the best rates!

Best hotels in Phnom Penh!

We use cookies to improve our website and your experience when using it. Cookies used for the essential operation of this site have already been set.To find out more about the cookies we use and how to delete them, see our privacy policy including cookie use

 I accept cookies from this site.