The living Buddhist monastery Wat Damnak is located in Wat Damnak Area in the centre of Siem Reap used to be a royal palace during the reign of King Sisowath. Nowadays Wat Damnak is home to the Centre of Khmer Studies which is an independent institution promoting a greater understanding of Khmer culture. It contains the largest public academic library in Cambodia outside of Phnom Penh. The Library is free of charge and open to everyone from Monday through Saturday. Students, Buddhist monks, tour guides, high school teacher, researches come to the library and read or study in silence.

Pagodas and monks welcome visitors and tourists. Please always remember to not disturb prayer or eating times, women are not allowed to touch monks, bow slightly in the presence of older monks, don’t point soles of feet or fingers towards monks or Buddha statues, sit with feet tucked behind rather than crossed, hats off in the monastery grounds, take off your shoes in the building, speak softly, ask before taking pictures, don’t enter closed buildings without permission, contribute what you can to the donation box.

Wat Damnak is easily accessed from the town centre: simply cross the bridge in front of the Old Market, and take the second right. You’ll see the outer walls of the wat instantly on your left, and the gate is only 20 metres up, also on your left.

Wat Damnak was a royal palace during the reign of King Sisowath, which explains the name, as “dam nak” is Khmer for palace. Today it is a functioning pagoda, and home to a school, two charities and a sewing school for young women. Pagodas are the centre of the primary education system in Cambodia and it is appropriate therefore that both of the NGOs located here are concerned with education. One of them, the Centre for Khmer Studies (CKS), has spent ten years working to reinforce our understanding of Cambodia, and to support the Cambodian higher education system.

As you follow the road through the wat, you’ll notice on your right a pinky-burgundy building with white columns, which is home to the CKS reading room, and directly behind that you’ll find the new library which has been specially designed to store and protect a wealth of knowledge. The groups of young Cambodians earnestly pouring over their books in the outdoor corrals will be a pretty good sign that you’ve arrived in the right place.

The new library building was officially opened in January 2010 at a ceremony led by King Norodom Sihamoni and attended by thousands of young Cambodian schoolchildren who, it is hoped, will benefit from the resources available here.

The library holds books, journals, encyclopaedias, directories, maps, guidebooks and daily national newspapers in English, French and Khmer, and their catalogue now lists more than 11,000 titles. The emphasis is on the social sciences, such as archaeology, sociology, art and economics. Spending a morning there absorbing information from the journals or taking in the scholarly vibe is pretty special. The librarians also speak English, French and Khmer and were trained at the University of California, Berkeley.

Once you’ve had enough of reading, or simply fancy a stroll, the gardens of the wat are quietly beautiful. Filled with aromatic frangipani trees, this is a wonderful spot if you’re up for a little improvement of the mind, or simply a little calming of the soul.

How to get there

Wat Damnak is easily accessed from the town centre: simply cross the bridge in front of the Old Market, and take the second right. You’ll see the outer walls of the wat instantly on your left, and the gate is only 20 metres up, also on your left.

Open: daily, 06:00 to 18:00, the Library is open Monday to Saturday

Admission: donation