Kampong Thom (City)

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ក្រុង កំពង់ ថំ
Kampong Thom
Kampong Thom (City) (Cambodia)
Red pog.svg
Coordinates 12 ° 42 '  N , 104 ° 54'  E Coordinates: 12 ° 42 '  N , 104 ° 54'  E
Basic data
Country Cambodia

province

Kampong Thom
ISO 3166-2 KH-6
height 10 m
Residents 48,000
Market woman in Kampong Thom

Kampong Thom ( Khmer ក្រុង កំពង់ ថំ , German: "big port"), officially: Krong Stueng Saen (City of Stueng Saen), is the administrative capital of the province of the same name in central Cambodia . The city is located about 170 km north of Phnom Penh on National Highway 6 which continues west to Siem Reap and Thailand .

Kampong Thom is located on the Stung Sen River, in the south is the city center and market, over the river bridge outside in the north is the modern Wat Kompong Thom. The city is the starting point for a visit to the temple complex of Sambor Prei Kuk from the 7th to 9th centuries. Further north and only accessible via poor dirt roads, Preah Khan , the largest temple complex from Angkorian times , is partly overgrown and in ruins .

history

Kompong Thom was already considered a town of strategic importance during the Angkor Empire. Under the Khmer ruler Jayavarman VII (r. 1182 - approx. 1220) Kompong Thom was connected to the capital Angkor Thom by a paved imperial road.

During the Indochina War, Kompong Thom province was the target of heavy bombing by the US Air Force in the 1970s.

In 1995, fighting between units of the Khmer Rouge and the government troops of Prime Minister Hun Sen was reported from Kompong Thom province.

economy

The economic pillars of Kompong Thom are agriculture (rice cultivation) and fishing from the Stung Sen River.

Outside the city, traditional drums (skor dae) are made from the wood of the jackfruit tree, which gives the musical instrument a good sound box.

tourism

In 1998 the temple complexes of Sambor Prei Kuk (7th to 9th centuries) were reopened to visitors after the site there had been completely cleared of mines. The 30 km long connecting road between Kompong Thom and Sambor Prei Kuk is meanwhile (as of 2010) well developed and partly asphalted.

Kompong Thom is also the starting point for a new road connection to Prasat Preah Vihear on the border between Cambodia and Thailand. The road (status: 2010) still consists largely of a leveled gravel road and is to be paved throughout. The city itself offers few sights. There is a small market in the center, a night market, and a Department of Arts and Culture with a museum showing exhibits from Sambor Prei Kuk.

Sons of the city

  • Duch alias Kaing Guek Eav , long-time director of the Khmer Rouge torture center Tuol Sleng in Phnom Penh , worked in Kampong Thom as a math teacher at a village school in the 1960s. Duch was sentenced to 30 years in prison at the Khmer Rouge International Tribunal in the summer of 2010.

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