Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a memorial site located in the S-21 prison and torture center used by the Khmer Rouge regime that ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The Museum bears witness to this tragic period in Cambodian history in order to encourage its visitors to be messengers of peace.

Tuol Sleng’s permanent exhibition focuses on the crimes committed in the former S-21 prison and displays photos and clothing of victims and staff members as well as torture tools, shackles, and chains. It also displays the paintings of Vann Nath, a survivor of S-21 and a renowned Cambodian artist, that depict scenes of torture and prison conditions. Of the four buildings that comprise the S-21 prison, once a high school, Building C is preserved exactly as it was during Khmer Rouge rule. At any given time, the museum features at least one temporary exhibition on topics related to the Khmer Rouge regime. The Museum’s archive guards thousands of documents and oral histories related to the genocide and, in collaboration with international partners, examines these records to help identify the Khmer Rouge’s victims, many of whose identities may never be known.

_{(Photos courtesy of Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.)}