Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monument
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The Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monument in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, is a large concrete monument commemorating the former alliance between Vietnam and Cambodia. It was built in the late 1970s by the communist regime that took power after the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, which overthrew the Khmer Rouge regime.
The monument is located in the centre of Phnom Penh not far from the Royal Palace. It features heroic statues of Vietnamese and Cambodian soldiers in the "Socialist realist" style developed in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, together with images of a woman and baby representing Cambodian civilians. With the end of the Vietnamese presence in Cambodia and fading memories of the conflicts of the 1970s, the memorial is neglected and little used by the Cambodians on a day-to-day basis.
The monument has occasionally become a political focal point. On August 30, 1998, during post-electoral protests, several people climbed onto the monument with hammers, poured gasoline on it and set it on fire. This damage was repaired two months later by the authorities. On July 29, 2007, a bomb exploded at the base of the monument, causing little damage.
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