Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, and National Museum

Friday, March 04, 2011
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
After the grim visit to torture prison yesterday, it was good to start the day with a visit to the beautiful Royal Palace. We were allowed to visit the Throne Room and the Silver Pagoda. Shoes removal was required and knees and shoulders had to be covered. The Throne was used for the King's coronation and is also a reception hall for receiving important foreign dignitaries. The room contains thrones for the king and queen (although the current king is still single at age 63), but the thrones are only used during the coronation ceremony. In front of the King's throne is a beautifully carved chair that he uses at other ceremonies. The floor is decorated with an elaborate tile inlay, but the majority of the floor is covered by a carpet that replicates the pattern of the floor. It was a gift from Chou en Lai, after a visit to the previous king.

We were told that photographs were not permitted inside the Throne Room, but in Thailand we could take pictures through open doors and windows. That was not permitted, as I soon discovered. An elderly man who was sitting inside, saw me with my camera, and jumped up, ran to the window and started yelling and pounding on the window sill. I apologized and beat a hasty retreat with visions of being carted off to a Cambodian jail. The man stuck his head out the window and continued to watch me until I went around a corner. Another one of the group told me that she tried to look in the window, and he got up a closed it. So, there are no photos of the inside of the Throne Room. After walking through the gardens, and seeing the exterior of a number of other buildings, we arrived at the Silver Pagoda, a buddhist temple on the palace grounds. Temples here are often referred to as pagodas and it's floor is made of silver tiles. Most of the floor was covered with industrial carpeting, but one small portion was visible. In addition to a solid gold Buddha and a replica of the Emerald Buddha from Bangkok, the temple was filled with cases of artifacts made of gold, silver and precious stones. Too bad, that once again pictures were not permitted.

  After lunch we visited the National Museum, another place where pictures were not permitted. However, here we were allowed to take pictures through windows and doorways. We learned a lot about Khmer art and history, and the visit was a good introduction for our upcoming visit to Angkor Wat.
  
 
  

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