The former French Colonial Police Commissariat, one of the most storied and deteriorating buildings on Post Office Square. 🇰🇭 It was originally built in 1892 and served as the colonial police force’s headquarters in Phnom Penh.
🇰🇭 Pop culture footnote: the building is widely known for its role as the guesthouse run by Jacques Depardieu’s character in Matt Dillon’s 2002 crime drama City of Ghosts. 🇰🇭 A recent 2026 report noted the building is still standing though its fate remains uncertain, as Phnom Penh continues racing toward modernization while many heritage buildings quietly disappear with little public debate or legal protection.
The building originated in the late 1890s under Huyn de Vernéville, France’s Résident Supérieur (the highest representative) in Cambodia. 🇰🇭 officially completed around 1910. 🇰🇭 In 1918, the property was purchased by Nicolas K. Manolis, a Greek immigrant. 🇰🇭 Under his ownership throughout the 1920s, it operated as the premier luxury hotel in Phnom Penh.
🇰🇭 The hotel’s most famous and scandalous slice of history belongs to André Malraux, the legendary French novelist, adventurer, and future first Minister of Cultural Affairs under Charles de Gaulle. 🇰🇭 The Heist: In 1923, a young Malraux traveled deep into the Cambodian jungle and hacked off valuable stone bas-reliefs from the ancient temple of Banteay Srei to sell on the Western art market.
🇰🇭 The House Arrest: He was caught by French colonial authorities. While awaiting his high-profile trial in Phnom Penh, he was placed under a form of comfortable house arrest at the Hotel Manolis, spending several months confined to his room here. Ironically, this “temple thief” would go on to lead France’s national architectural preservation and museum expansion drives decades later.
🇰🇭 Post-War Transition & The Squatter Era (1979–Present) The Evacuation & Return: Like the rest of Phnom Penh, the building was completely abandoned in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge forcibly evacuated the city’s population. 🇰🇭 Following the fall of the regime in 1979, citizens returned to the ghost city and claimed shelter wherever they could. The grand hotel rooms were partitioned into small apartments. For decades, the upper levels of the building have been home to roughly 30 local Cambodian families. 🇰🇭 The corner space is occupied by Le Manolis, a French bistro and wine bar that deliberately preserved the building’s name and original architectural bones to honor its long, eccentric history.
Constructed around 1890 based on plans by French architect Daniel Fabre, it was the first administrative building erected by the French protectorate, originally named the “Hôtel des Postes et Télégraphe.”
Located near Wat Phnom on a square intersected by Street 13, it stands in the heart of the city’s former French administrative quarter and remains the largest post office in Cambodia.
When the Khmer Rouge took control in 1975, the regime allowed no civilian private communication and abolished the postal system entirely. No stamps were issued and mail ceased to exist. Service resumed in early 1979 when the Vietnam People’s Army drove the Khmer Rouge out of Phnom Penh.
The building is recognized among 39 structures of singular monumental character in Phnom Penh deserving protection, and under Cambodia’s 1996 Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage it is inventoried for national preservation.
Starts with organizing with Henry at 303 Pham Ngu Lao and then our bus left right on time at 9:45am.
Immediately, the staff on the bus begins handing out the two cards (duplicates) that we need to fill out for Cambodian immigration. Then he takes our passports. That’s it. He organizes everything. It takes about 3 hours to get to the border (Moc Bai.) One ten-minute bathroom stop on the way. At the border, he carries everyone’s passports and has us follow him.
We had no lines, so literally, in like 2 mins, he handed me my passport to walk outside and get back on our bus that has crossed over to Cambodia, essentially. (In the same parking lot.) Once everyone is back on, they drive us about 5 mins to a sparkling clean Duty Free Plaza, where everyone eats lunch. (About 30 mins)
Then I think 🤔 after that, we follow him into the Cambodian immigration and then get back in the bus. I can’t remember which was first. Either way, we then had 4 more hours to get to Phnom Penh. 2 1/2 hours into that, there’s another bathroom break.
Then, about one more hour and a half, we’re in Phnom Penh. I hopped out and found a tuk tuk 🛺 to drive me to my hotel. 🏨 The End. 😊
The bus is clean, spacious, excellent WiFi and A/C. They provide water and some kind of bread roll. $36 usd for the trip. Well worth it.
The Central Market, known in Khmer as Phsar Thmei (ផ្សារធំថ្មី, literally “New Grand Market”), is one of Phnom Penh’s most iconic landmarks and a stunning example of Art Deco architecture in Southeast Asia.
Built between 1935 and 1937 during the French colonial period, it was designed with a striking cruciform layout: four wings radiating out from a soaring central dome. That dome, painted a distinctive ochre-yellow, is one of the largest of its kind in Asia and was considered an architectural marvel when it opened.
The design is often credited to French architect Louis Chauchon, with engineering input from others, and it was reportedly the largest market in Asia at the time of its completion.
Inside and beneath that great dome, the market is a maze of vendors. The central hall is famous for gold, silver, jewelry, gemstones, and watches, while the four arms and the surrounding stalls spill over into everything else: fabrics, clothing, electronics, souvenirs, flowers, fresh produce, and food. The outer ring is where you’ll find some of the best cheap eats in the city, with stalls serving noodles, fresh fruit, and Khmer street food.
Most people go to the Central Market for the ‘chaotic market energy.’ Not me. I go for the silence and solitude in the early morning and to observe the architecture – the only foreigner in the beautiful building and maybe one of 5 souls in the whole thing as it began to wake up…
Phuc Van Dang (1972) was born in Vietnam 🇻🇳 and came to Denmark 🇩🇰 in 1981. He studied graphic design and has worked with design, concept- and product development. Today he utilizes this background in his diverse work as an artist, graphic designer, speaker and workshop-giver and in collaborations with i.a. clothing manufacturers and product designers, Phuc Van Dang explores themes such as identity, belonging, human nature and community engagement, and as a cultural facilitator he creates new connections between art, design and culture.
In the heart of Phnom Penh, the Independence Monument (Vimean Ekareach) marks the moment Cambodia reclaimed its sovereignty from France in 1953.
Designed by the visionary Cambodian architect Vann Molyvann and completed in 1958, its lotus-shaped tower rises in the style of a Khmer temple stupa, echoing the spires of Angkor.
By day it anchors one of the city’s busiest roundabouts. By night it glows red, blue, and gold, lit in the colors of the national flag. More than a landmark, it is a quiet reminder of a nation that chose to define itself on its own terms. 🇰🇭
Norodom Sihanouk Memorial
The Norodom Sihanouk Memorial (also called the Statue of King Father Norodom Sihanouk), honoring the man Cambodians call the “Father King.”
The statue is painted gold. This memorial cost about 1.2 million USD and it took about eight months to build.
Sihanouk is a towering figure in modern Cambodian history. He’s credited for his efforts in liberating the country from French colonization, and he reigned as the king under whom Cambodia gained independence from France in 1953.
Constitution Monument (also called the Monument to the Constitution) – completes the trifecta of monuments
