The Cambodia–Vietnam Friendship Monument in

Phnom Penh Phnom Penh is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Cambodia, most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since 1865 and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its political, economic, industr ...

, capital of

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, is a large concrete monument commemorating the former alliance between

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

and Cambodia. It was built in 1979 by the

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

regime In politics, a regime (also spelled régime) is a system of government that determines access to public office, and the extent of power held by officials. The two broad categories of regimes are democratic and autocratic. A key similarity acros ...

that took power after the Cambodian-Vietnamese War, which overthrew the

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...

regime. The monument is located at the Botum Park near the centre of Phnom Penh not far from the

Royal Palace This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania {, class="wikitable" width="95%" , - bgcolor="white" !align=center, Residence !align=center, Photo !align=center, City !align=cen ...

. It features heroic statues of Vietnamese and Cambodian soldiers in the " Socialist realist" style developed in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in the 1930s, together with images of a woman and baby representing Cambodian civilians. The monument is in a popular park in the middle of the city. The monument has occasionally become a political focal point. On August 30, 1998, during post-electoral protests, a mob climbed onto the monument with hammers, poured gasoline on it and set it on fire. Authorities repaired the monument two months later. On July 29, 2007, a bomb exploded at the base of the monument, causing little damage. It is believed that the bombing was orchestrated by ultra-nationalist Cambodians.

References

Buildings and structures completed in 1979 1979 establishments in Cambodia Monuments and memorials in Cambodia Buildings and structures in Phnom Penh Cambodia–Vietnam relations {{Cambodia-struct-stub