Phnom Penh

Cambodian Fact – the name Phnom Penh means Penh’s Hill and is named for Wat Phnom. The legend has it that in 1372, a wealthy widow, Lady Penh, found a Koki (Candlenut) tree floating down the Tonle Sap River. Inside the tree, Lady Penh found four bronze statues of Buddha and a stone statue of Vishnu, an important Hindu God. Lady Penh used her position and ordered the villagers to raise the height of the hill northeast of her house and used the wood from the Koki tree to build a temple to house the four Buddhas and a shelter for Vishnu slightly lower on the hill. She then named the temple Wat Phnom Daun Penh (The Temple Estate on the Hill of Grandmother Penh), which later shortened to Wat Phnom.

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