Silver Pagoda

Commissioned in 1892 by King Norodom and rebuilt in 1962 by Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Wat Preah Keo Morakot—widely known as the Silver Pagoda—anchors the southern precinct of Phnom Penh’s Royal Palace. Built in classical Khmer architectural style with sweeping, tiered gables crested by gilded *naga* serpents, the temple grounds are enclosed by cloistered galleries bearing weathered 1903 murals of the epic *Reamker*. Stepping past Italian-marble columns into the central sanctuary, visitors shed their shoes to encounter the temple’s namesake marvel: the cool, metallic clink beneath their bare feet of over 5,000 hand-hammered silver floor tiles, each weighing more than a kilogram. Inside the dim, hushed chamber, daylight catches an astonishing repository of royal devotion. Atop a towering gilded dais rests the sacred "Emerald Buddha," fashioned from luminous green Baccarat crystal in the seventeenth century. Directly in front rises the Maitreya Buddha—a life-sized effigy commissioned in 1904 by King Sisowath, cast from 90 kilograms of solid gold and encrusted with 9,584 diamonds, the largest of which gleams from the diadem at 25 carats. Surrounded by glass cases of royal regalia and delicate filigree, travelers absorb the subtle fragrance of dried lotus offerings, standing at the precise crossroads of historic Khmer statecraft and enduring Theravada veneration.