Central Market (Phnom Penh)
The Central Market , Khmer ផ្សារ ធំ ថ្មី , Phsar Thmei ("New Market") or Phsar Thom Thmey ("New Big Market"), was established in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh between 1935 and 1937 . The design of the central building in Art Deco comes from the French architects Louis Chauchon and Jean Desbois with the assistance of the engineer Wladimir Kandaourow.
Location and description
The central market forms the approximate geographical center of the city and is ideally suited as a point of orientation. It spreads across a larger square east of Monivong Boulevard and consists of a central 26-meter-high dome structure with a diameter of 45 meters and four 44-meter-long building arms.
The building protects the market stalls in it from sun and rain. In addition, it is interspersed with numerous openings, and the building arms stand on pillars, so that pleasant temperatures are ensured due to the wind permeability. The entire spectrum of East and Southeast Asian goods is offered, in particular - in each case as copies of Western branded products - clothing, shoes, bags, sunglasses, watches and DVDs, but also household items and electronic devices, mosquito nets, books, jewelry, local handicrafts, toys as well as agricultural and fishing products and flowers.
history
Before 1935, the area around the market consisted of a wetland area, where the water collected in a lake during the rainy season. Constant flooding at this time of year is a relic of that past. It is also worth mentioning that before the wetland was drained, the urban area of Phnom Penh was delimited by Norodom Boulevard in the west and the banks of the Tonle Sap in the east. The drainage was the starting point for the later expansion of the city to the west into areas that were then characterized by rice cultivation.
The market was built between August 1935 and June 1937 and was donated by the French state. The central market was the commercial center of Phnom Penh until the 1970s.
Renewal 2009–2011
From January 2009 to February 2011 the central market was completely renovated. The original appearance of the building was preserved as far as possible. Additional covered sales areas were created between the arms of the building. In addition, the electricity pylons were renewed, new trees were planted, new traffic signs were installed and road plates were renewed, and parts of the road around the market were renewed.
Because the groundwater level is only 15 centimeters below the surface, a new drainage system was also built. The project was supported with € 4.5 million from the Agence Française de Developpement (AFD). The reopening took place on May 25, 2011.
literature
- Brian Brace Taylor: Inventing a Colonial Landscape: The New Central Market in Phnom Penh . In: Alexander von Hoffman (Ed.): Form, Modernism, and History: Essays in Honor of Eduard F. Sekler . Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1996, ISBN 0-935617-29-9 , p. 176.
- Helen Grant Ross, Darryl Leon Collins: Building Cambodia: New Khmer Architecture, from 1953 to 1970 . Key Publisher, Bangkok 2006, ISBN 974-93412-1-X .
- Simon Marks, Neou Vannarin: New Market . In: The Cambodia Daily Weekend , July 25, 2009, p. 12 f.
Web links
- Market hall Phnom Penh: bargaining in the dry . sueddeutsche.de, June 13, 2011
Individual evidence
- ^ A b ASEAN Television News: Cambodia: The Central Market Renovation
- ↑ a b Central Market: Officially Reopen to the Public ( Memento from September 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
Coordinates: 11 ° 34 ′ 10 ″ N , 104 ° 55 ′ 16 ″ E