RouteBattambang

Battambang French Colonial Architecture Walk

Walk Battambang's colonial streets — Battambang has the best-preserved French colonial architecture in Cambodia outside Phnom Penh, with its riverside boulevard, colonial administrative buildings, and the distinctive shophouse terraces of the old commercial district.

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1
Riverside Colonial Boulevard
The riverside boulevard along the Sangker River (the Stung Sangker, the river that flows through the city and gives Battambang its riverside character) is the most atmospheric approach to the colonial district — the colonial-era buildings visible from the river road (the former governor's residence, the customs house, and the administrative buildings of the French protectorate period) face the river in the classic colonial urban planning tradition that placed the administrative quarter along the most prominent waterfront position. The boulevard's mature trees (planted during the French period and now providing dense canopy cover over the walkway beside the river) create the most comfortable pedestrian promenade in Battambang's street environment, and the river itself (the fishing boats, the riverside communities, and the reflections of the colonial facades in the water) provides the most picturesque backdrop accessible in the town.
2
Colonial Governor's Residence
The former French colonial governor's residence in Battambang (now used as a provincial government building) is the finest single example of French Indochina colonial residential architecture accessible in the city — the two-storey colonial villa (the shuttered windows, the wraparound verandah, the tiled roof with the dormer windows, and the formal garden providing the characteristic visual vocabulary of the colonial residential style) is the most photographed building in Battambang's architectural heritage. The building's continued use as a government facility (preventing public interior access) means that the colonial architecture is encountered from the exterior, where the facade and the garden setting are visible from the road.
3
Old Market Area Shophouses
The shophouse terraces of the old commercial district near the Battambang market are the most extensive surviving example of the French Indochina shophouse urban fabric in Cambodia — the two and three-storey shophouses (the ground floor commercial space open to the street, the residential floors above accessed by the internal staircase, and the characteristic facade ornamentation of the Sino-colonial shophouse tradition) lining the streets of the old commercial quarter create a continuous streetscape of colonial commercial architecture that is absent in the post-war rebuilding of Phnom Penh and damaged in Siem Reap. The shophouses' current occupants (the mixture of traditional family businesses, the new cafes and restaurants opened for the tourist market, and the motorcycle repair workshops) create a functioning commercial street environment within the colonial architecture.
4
Battambang Market
The central Phsar Nat (Battambang market) operates in and around the colonial-era market building near the river — the market's produce section (the fresh vegetables from the surrounding province's farms, the Battambang tangerines and oranges that are the most famous agricultural product of the region, and the river fish from the Tonle Sap system) provides the most direct encounter with the agricultural abundance of northwestern Cambodia. The market's prepared food section (the Cambodian breakfast rice noodles, the various khmer soups, and the baked goods from the French-influenced bakery tradition maintained in the city) is the most complete single-location food survey accessible in Battambang.
5
Yellow Battambang Tower
The yellow-painted colonial tower (the former clock tower or water tower of the French administration, the distinctive yellow-painted cylindrical tower that has become the informal symbol of Battambang's colonial heritage) is the most photographed single colonial structure in the city outside the governor's residence — the tower's position in the centre of the old town provides the most convenient orientation landmark for navigating the colonial district. The tower's distinctive yellow colour (the ochre yellow that was the characteristic palette of French Indochina colonial architecture throughout Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos) is the visual signature of the Battambang colonial streetscape visible from the river road.
6
French Colonial Hotel Heritage
The former colonial hotel buildings of the Battambang riverside district (the hotel buildings that served the French administrators, the colonial merchants, and the travellers on the river route between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap during the French protectorate period) include several buildings now converted to boutique accommodation that maintain the colonial architectural character — the high-ceilinged rooms with the ceiling fans, the tiled floors, and the louvred shutters on the tall windows looking out to the river provide the most atmospheric colonial hotel experience accessible in Cambodia outside Phnom Penh's Raffles Le Royal.