Wat Damnak Pagoda & Khmer Study Center

Wat Damnak Library is a minute’s walk over the bridge from Siem Reap’s Old Market area and is the largest public academic library in Cambodia outside of Phnom Penh.

If you enter the grounds of the Wat and turn to the right you will see a pretty rose-coloured building with natural wooden doors and window shutters set in a garden with frangipani and palms. This is the library, and is open Monday to Saturday and houses a collection of books, journals, newspapers, guidebooks, maps, and more.

A recent addition is a new children’s library, which is a joint project between the Centre for Khmer Studies and Wat Damnak Primary School. The children’s library is currently only open on Thursday and Saturday afternoons, and was designed, with assistance from the children, as a space that encourages all young people to read.