The seat of the sangha
Wat Ounalom is traditionally dated to 1443 and is the most important monastery in Cambodia, serving as the seat of the Buddhist patriarch and the headquarters of the Mohanikay order. It sits on Sisowath Quay a short walk north of the Royal Palace.
Its name comes from a relic said to be enshrined here — a hair from the Buddha’s eyebrow, the unalom, held in the stupa behind the main buildings.
Destruction and recovery
The monastery was a centre of Buddhist scholarship, with a substantial library of manuscripts and a monastic community numbering in the hundreds. Under the Khmer Rouge it was stripped: the library was destroyed, statuary was thrown into the river, and the sangha itself was effectively abolished across the country.
What stands today is the result of decades of patient rebuilding since the early 1980s, and Wat Ounalom’s recovery closely tracks the recovery of institutional Buddhism in Cambodia as a whole.
A statue of the patriarch Samdech Huot Tat, killed during the regime, stands in the compound.
Visiting
The monastery is active and busy, particularly in the early morning and on Buddhist holy days. It is not organised for tourism, which is much of its appeal — you are walking through a working institution.
Cover shoulders and knees, remove your shoes before entering any sanctuary, and ask before photographing monks. There is no formal entrance fee; a small donation is appropriate.