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Late medieval · Buddhist · Cambodia
Wat Ounalom
Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh · 11.5678°, 104.9300°
A relic hair from the whorl between the Buddha's eyebrowsPost-Angkorian (King Ponhea Yat)—
Sacred since
1443 CE
first attestation / structure
Standing structure
founded 1443
Post-Angkorian (King Ponhea Yat)
History & significance
The spiritual and administrative centre of Cambodian Theravada Buddhism and long the seat of the Mahanikaya order, a 44-building compound founded in 1443 under King Ponhea Yat over an earlier Angkorian stone sanctuary. Its name recalls the unnalom, the hair from between the Buddha's brows enshrined in its central stupa; the monastery was restored after the Khmer Rouge years.