Cambodiana Hotel

The construction of the building that was to become the Cambodiana Hotel began in the late 1960s but was interrupted by the war that began in 1970. It became a military barracks during the Lon Nol era and was subsequently abandoned after 1975. In 1988 Singaporean investors re-launched the project and completed the construction. It was first opened as a hotel in June 1990. Many diplomats and journalists stayed there during the 1991-93 UNTAC period. It is now run by the Royal Group. 

The picture shows a large body of water to the south of the hotel, which has long since been reclaimed land. You might also notice the rows of cottage like buildings in the triangular park between Sisowath and St 258, and further north the houses along the quay north of the palace where there is now a riverside park. The park at Wat Botum is much larger too, you can see a lot of trees around where the Bodyguard HQ is now.
I'd guess this picture was taken around 1989 as the hotel looks almost complete other than the front grounds. There was a water sport complex which briefly became a casino in the late 60's in the area to the south, but the water is now part of Hun Sen Park and the Dreamland amusement park.     

Vietnamese era Statue

This statue is under a tree to the south of the entrance to the National Museum. There are many Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Monuments in town centers all around the country. These were erected after the  1979 Vietnamese invasion. The statues are normally very large, for example the one below that is in the park in front of Wat Botum in Phnom Penh is about 6 meters high, and appears to be made of stone. They all have a common subject showing a pair of soldiers, presumably a Vietnamese one and a Cambodian one, carrying AK rifles, and then a woman holding a baby in front of them.
What is unusual about the one in the museum grounds is its small size, the figures are smaller than life-size, and made from reinforced concrete. The weathering and lichen on the statue make it look very ancient, although it couldn't be more than 33 years old.

Statue in front of National Museum

Statue on monument in Phnom Penh

Wat Phnom Clock

This giant clock, almost 20 meters wide, was a gift from China in the year 2000 and replaced a previous one that came from France and was installed in the early 1960s. The clock is in front of a monument commemorating the return of the western provinces of Battambang, Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey from Thai control in 1907. The main reason I wanted to make this post was to show the incredible changes over the years, especially when you see Hopper Stone's picture from 1993.

View around 1940

1946

1961

1961

1970

Nigerian UNTAC troops in front of a forlorn looking hill 1993

A recent view.

The Hopper Stone picture is from ethicaltraveler.org
More of Hopper's work can be seen on his site: stonefoto.com

The Bells of Phnom Penh Cathedral

I made a post back in October 2009 about this cathedral which apparently was inaugurated in 1955. It was torn down in 1975, and its bells were thrown into the lake behind. They were later recovered and can be seen on the steps of the National Museum. I was working there recently and took some close-ups of the decorations on them. They are all quite common Christian themes such as crucifixes and the bleeding heart but unusual in Phnom Penh. There are two bells that are in good condition, and one of which only the top part remains.

This aerial image shows the cathedral in front of the lake, which has now also disappeared

 Here's the 2009 post on the cathedral.

Broken Bricks

This series of shots shows the same building on the corner of St 130 and St 5 as it has changed over the years. The first shot is by the esteemed Serge Corrieras from around 1992. The next shows it in what I'd guess as around 2006. Then we see it transformed into the notorious "Broken Bricks" bar, an ongoing work of art until its demise in 2008. The following shots show it a few months later while it was being refurbished. They did an excellent job renovating this old building. The final shot shows it today in 2012, with foliage blooming outside.

Scruffy Old Town

It's easily forgotten when we look at all the old pictures of the grand buildings of the administrative center and palace that outside of this the town was fairly scruffy and nondescript. Other than the quay and a few other solid buildings within a short distance from this there was little solid or fancy about Phnom Penh. An American traveler, Frank Vincent, had this to say about the place in 1872. The town, he wrote, was; " dull, nothing breaking the uniformity of its bamboo huts excepting a slender, pyramidical pagoda, one of the palace buildings, and two blocks of brick stores, recently built by the king; it resembles many of the villages along the banks of the (Tonle Sap River), only differing from them in size- in numbers of dwellings and shops." He continues: " As we sailed along the river, the first objects that attracted my attention were the small but neat buildings - chapel and schools - of the Roman Catholic Mission. Next we passed an old dilapidated steamboat, and back of this, on the shore, waved the national Cambodian flag - blue with a red border, and emblems of peace and plenty in the center ground. then came the barracks, where are stationed a company of French troops, and the residence of the Commandant or Protecteur, as he is styled , who represents French interests rather than His Majesty's....The city extends along the banks of the river for a distance of about three miles, and perhaps not more than half a mile into the interior; on that side there is a low embankment of earth, erected recently- at the time of Annamite trouble. There is no wall about (Phnom Penh), not even around the palace. The main road runs north and south along the river; there are a few cross-roads, but this is the street. It is about thirty feet wide, macadamised with broken bricks and sand, and lined throughout its whole length with little bamboo shops, the greater part owned by Chinese, many by Klings (Indians), and the remainder by Cambodians and Cochin Chinese. Many of the shops are "gambling hells"; some are used by opium smokers, the Klings offer for sale miscellaneous European goods, and the Cambodians silks and cottons; the Cambodians are celebrated for their manufacture of silk. The population is about 20,000, and embraces Chinese, Cochin Chinese, Klings and Siamese, besides Cambodians."

An aerial view of the city from around 1935

A view of the Water Festival in front of the Royal Palace in around 1910

One of the villages around Phnom Penh in the early 20th century

The quay in front of the palace in the early 20th century

A Buddhist procession in Phnom Penh in 1906

A floating village around the city in the early part of the 20th century

A view of Psah Thmei from the mid 1960s.

The road along the Bassac River in the 1920s.

The quay in the 1920s.

Most of these pictures are from http://www.delcampe.net/

Psah Thmei, early 1960s.

A distant shot of Psah Thmei viewed from what is now Kampuchea Krom Boulevard, dating perhaps from the early 1960s. There is a huge contrast between the modern style hotels and buildings on Monivong and the traditional style housing in the foreground. Much of the area west of Monivong was almost rural at that time, which seems incredible as it's such a built up area now.
 This picture comes from the marvelous  https://www.facebook.com/amazingcambo page. I've been collecting old pictures of Cambodia for years but there are lots of pictures on this page that I've never seen.