Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, is a memorial and historical museum preserving the site of Security Prison 21 (S-21), the notorious interrogation and torture center operated by the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979. It stands as Cambodia’s most important remembrance site for victims of the genocide that claimed roughly a quarter of the nation’s population.
Key facts
-
Location: Street 113 & Street 350, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
-
Established: 1980
-
Original use: Tuol Svay Prey High School (built 1962)
-
Victims: ≈ 20,000 imprisoned; only 12 survived
-
UNESCO listing: Archives inscribed in Memory of the World Register (2009)
Historical background
Before 1975 the compound served as a secondary school. Under Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge, classrooms were converted into small brick or wooden cells, interrogation chambers, and torture rooms surrounded by barbed wire. Prisoners—officials, intellectuals, monks, women, and children—were photographed on arrival, forced to “confess” under torture, and later executed at the nearby Choeung Ek Genocidal Center. When Vietnamese forces liberated Phnom Penh in 1979, they discovered extensive documentation of these crimes.
Exhibits and layout
The museum’s four main buildings preserve the site largely as found.
-
Building A: interrogation rooms with iron bedframes and victims’ photographs.
-
Building B: galleries of prisoner mugshots.
-
Buildings C and D: rows of tiny cells, torture instruments, and survivor accounts.
A courtyard memorial protects the graves of the final 14 victims and a stupa erected in 2015. Archival holdings include thousands of documents and images registered by UNESCO.
Educational and memorial role
Since opening in 1980, Tuol Sleng has functioned as both museum and site of conscience, promoting education on genocide prevention and human rights. Guided and audio tours are offered in multiple languages, and religious ceremonies such as Pchum Ben honor the dead annually. The museum collaborates with the Documentation Center of Cambodia and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia to support historical justice and public remembrance.
Visitor information
Open daily 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; entry is free for Cambodian citizens and US $5 for foreign adults. Modest attire and respectful behavior are required. Audio guides and brief documentary films help contextualize the exhibits, which can be emotionally challenging but form an essential part of understanding Cambodia’s modern history.
