Did you know? · Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh fun facts
Things you might not know about Phnom Penh. Every fact comes from an official or primary source, named alongside it.
Updated October 2026
A hill and a legend
According to the city’s founding legend, a woman called Penh found Buddha statues in the river and enshrined them on a small hill, the phnom: Wat Phnom, which gave Phnom Penh its name.
The four faces
Phnom Penh stands at the Chaktomuk, the “four faces”, where the Tonle Sap joins the Mekong and the Bassac branches away.
A hotel of 1929
Raffles Hotel Le Royal was built in 1929 and reopened as Raffles Hotel Le Royal in 1997, in the hotel’s own words (raffles.com).
Up to 187.3 metres
Vattanac Capital rises to 187.3 metres (vattanaccapital.com); the Rosewood occupies its upper floors and calls it Cambodia’s tallest skyscraper.
The capitals of an empire
UNESCO lists Angkor as a World Heritage site: the remains of the capitals of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to the 15th century.
Questions and answers
Where does the name Phnom Penh come from?
From Wat Phnom, the hill of the city’s founding legend.