Wat Ounalom

Sangkat Chey Chum Neas

About

This is probably the most important pagoda in Cambodian Buddhism as it houses the nation's religious administration as well as its top monk. Prior to 1974, this wat also held the library of the Buddhist Institute, which had amassed some 30,000 titles before it was destroyed by the Khmer Rouge. The institute has now been revived and was recently relocated to larger premises on Sihanouk Boulevard. Fortunately, the wat's central feature, a hair from the Buddha's eyebrow (known as ounalom) seems to have survived the trials of history and is preserved in a building behind the main pagoda.