Angkor National Museum

សារមន្ទីរជាតិអង្គរ (Angkor National Museum)

Do your Angkor homework here first

⚠ No photos inside

Hours

Daily 08:30–18:00 (Wikivoyage; check on site)

Tickets

US$12, audio guide US$5 (per Wikivoyage; check on site)

Address

968 Charles de Gaulle Blvd, on the main road out to Angkor Wat

An air-conditioned run through Angkor's history in order. A short film opens with the Khmer kings, then comes a room whose walls are lined with close to a thousand small Buddhas. Statues, lingas, inscriptions and apsara carvings brought in from the temples sit under gallery lighting, so the faces read far more clearly than they do outside under lichen. Temples can blur together at first; learn to tell Shiva from Vishnu from the Buddha here and the reliefs look different the next day. It's also a good way to spend a hot or rainy afternoon.