After the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime in January 1979, Cambodia left behind depopulated cities. A quarter of the population was exterminated including 90% of the local elite. The capital, Phnom Penh, was sorely marked by abandonment during these years of conflict, and the ensuing political instability in the...
Alban Lécuyer: The Grand Opening of Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is a unique example of our times of a capital that was almost entirely stripped of its population. Buildings were abandoned and traffic prohibited, as well as schools and public spaces being converted into farmland: from 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge regime advocated domination over the “new...