Opening date for Angkor National Museum

The brand new Angkor Museum

I've just heard from the folks at the Angkor National Museum, it opens on Monday 12 November, with the ceremony being presided over by Prime Minister Hun Sen and Vice PM Sok An. They even gave me an invitation to join the celebrations, what nice folks. After a few false dawns the building is finished, the exhibits have been shipped in from the nearby Angkor Conservation Depot and from the National Museum in Phnom Penh, and the staff are being trained as I type. Also included in the ultramodern new complex, which you can see on the main road to the Angkor site, will be a cultural mall which will house restaurants, shops, a library and a spa. Its set to cost foreign tourists $12 to enter, $3 for Khmers, and the museum's aim will be to show visitors Khmer cultural heritage through various collections that will be displayed in eight galleries. The galleries will be: 1,000 Buddha Images; Pre-Angkor Khmer Civilization; Pre-Angkor Religion & Beliefs; The Great Khmer Kings; Angkor Wat; Angkor Thom; Story from Stones; Ancient Costume. It will house an 80-seat theatre where visitors can watch multimedia presentations featuring stories about the Khmer empire, while audio tour guides will be available on request in various languages such as Korean, Japanese, French, Chinese and Thai. Find out more at the ANM website.