National Library, Phnom Penh
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| Disarray and Destruction
During those years, it suffered a huge loss of its collections. Many of its books were destroyed or pages were ripped up and used for toilet and cigarette papers. Kitchen utensils and food supplies were stored on the library shelves, rats and mice nested in the books and pigpens were set up in the once graceful gardens. Just before the Vietnamese rolled into Phnom Penh, more books were thrown into the streets where they were picked up by the Cambodians who later returned them when the library reopened. Only two of its 40 staff members returned when it reopened in January 1980. | | | Rare collections Originally in Wat Ounalom, the center for Khmer Buddhism, it moved into its current building in 1924. At that time, it had only 2, 879 books in French. With the advent of Cambodian publishing after the country’s independence, Khmer books were added to its shelves. Now, with help from overseas governments and agencies, its collections have been rebuilt to total more than 100,000 books in Khmer, French, English and German. Most of the rare books are only available for use and research in the reading room.
A rare collection of 710 sastra or palm manuscripts has been restored with help from experts from the United States. Each manuscript is devoted to a single topic, and is also accessible via microfilm. Other heritage documents include more than 8,000 national documents in French from the years between 1925-1979 and Khmer books and papers dating back to 1955-1975. Book plates made from the library’s colonial-era periodicals are permanently on display
The National Library is now opened daily from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 2:30 to 5 p.m. The restored National Archives is in a building behind the library. | |
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Last Updated on Monday, 14 September 2009 23:08 |
Destinations 