First recorded a century once it's aforesaid to have taken place, the legend of the creation of Phnom Penh tells of a local lady, married woman Penh (Duan Penh,) living at the Chaktomuk, the future Phnom Penh. It absolutely was the late fourteenth century and also the Khmer capital was still at Angkor close to Siem Reap 350km to the west. Gathering firewood along the banks of the river, woman Penh spied a floating Koki tree within the river and fished it from the water.
Daun Penh Hill
Inside the tree, there were four Buddha statues and one amongst Vishnu (the numbers vary on completely different telling.) the finding was reflected as a heaven blessing, and to some a symbol that the Khmer capital was to be delivered to Phnom Penh from Angkor. To accommodate the new found sacred objects, woman Penh raised a tiny low hill on the West Bank of the Tonle Sap River and topped it with a shrine, currently referred to as Wat Phnom at the north end of central Phnom Penh. 'Phnom' is Khmer for 'hill' and therefore the woman Penh's hill took on the name of the founder, i.e. Phnom Duan Penh, and also the area around it became famed after the Hill - Phnom Penh.
