The National Library of Cambodia ( km, បណ្ណាល័យជាតិកម្ពុជា; french: Bibliothèque nationale du Cambodge) is the

national library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant wo ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...

, based in

Phnom Penh Phnom Penh (; km, ភ្នំពេញ, ) is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic, indus ...

. From 1975-1979, the

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge (; ; km, ខ្មែរក្រហម, ; ) is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 ...

destroyed many of the books and bibliographical records, it is commonly thought that about 20% of its 65,000 materials survived, though the true number lost remains unknown.

History

The National Library of Cambodia was inaugurated by the French colonial administration on 24 December 1924 and it was the first project realized by French architect Louis Chauchon. The library had an initial collection of just 2,879 books, mainly in

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

. Thereafter it was successively managed by French staff until the appointment of the first Khmer Director, Mr

Pach Chhoeun Pach may refer to: People *Joseph Pach (1928), Canadian violinist * Walter Pach (1883–1958), American artist, critic, lecturer, and art historian *Marek Pach (1954), Polish combined skier and ski jumper *János Pach (1954), Hungarian mathematici ...

, in 1951. After independence in 1954 there was a steady growth in Cambodian publishing, which was reflected in the increased number of Khmer language books in the National Library. Closed down in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

during the

era, the National Library was used for several years as accommodation by members of the

Pol Pot Pol Pot; (born Saloth Sâr;; 19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998) was a Cambodian revolutionary, dictator, and politician who ruled Cambodia as Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea between 1976 and 1979. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist ...

regime, who destroyed many of the books. The gardens of the library were used to keep pigs and chickens, and their caretakers lived in the library building. The library's skilled workforce was similarly devastated; of the 40 workers from the pre-Khmer Rouge era, only two returned to work at the library afterward. The fates of most others are unknown. Since 1980 the National Library has been re-established with the assistance of various overseas governments and agencies. Today the National Library of Cambodia holds some 103,635 copies in various languages ( Khmer, French, English, German); special collections comprise 8,327 national documents, including documents published in French between 1925 and 1970, plus some books and documents published in the Khmer language dating from the years 1955-1975. There is also a special collection of 305

sastra ''Shastra'' (, IAST: , ) is a Sanskrit word that means "precept, rules, manual, compendium, book or treatise" in a general sense.Monier Williams, Monier Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Article on 'zAstra'' The wo ...

or palm leaf manuscripts, which are available on

microfilm Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original document size. ...

. An exhibition of book plates has been created from the library's collection of colonial-era periodicals, magazines and books; this is permanently on view in the Library’s periodicals room. Managed by the Directorate of Cultural Publications and Reading of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, the National Library is currently staffed by 30 people. D’Amicantonio, J. (1997). The development of libraries in Cambodia: the post-Khmer Rouge years. ''World Libraries'', 8(1), 36–41.

References

External links

National Library of Cambodia website
{{Authority control

Libraries in Cambodia Libraries established in 1924 Buildings and structures in Phnom Penh

History

See also

References

External links