Preah Suramarit National Theatre
former national theatre of Cambodia
The Preah Suramarit National Theatre or the Bassac Theatre was the national theatre of Cambodia in the capital Phnom Penh.
Designed by chief national architect Vann Molyvann in 1966, it opened in 1968 as the Grand Théâtre Preah Bat Norodom Suramarit (aka Mohorsrop Theatre). The theatre building became a landmark structure in modern Phnom Penh. It was demolished in 2008.
Fire and reconstruction efforts
During renovation efforts in February 1994, there was disastrous fire that gutted the entire auditorium and the venue has remained a burned-out shell ever since.
Since the late 1990s, there have been many unsuccessful efforts to seek funds for the restoration of the theatre and to redevelop it as an organisational base and national venue. A $20,000 project by the late Cambodian architect Brum Dar-ravudh had provided the facilities for several rehearsal spaces. Meanwhile, the National Theatre's head, former dancer Mao Keng, had aimed to build a brand-new, state-of-the-art building, which has been rejected by the Cambodian Council of Ministers. A project for a completely new theatre that included dressing rooms, a cafeteria and a swimming pool was proposed in 1999 but never got the green light.
In the ensuing years, neither the Ministry of Culture nor any of the Cambodian cultural or political establishments have been able to raise the finances to restore the theatre and approve any proposals, resulting in a protracted stalemate.
The public source identifies “Preah Suramarit National Theatre” as former national theatre of Cambodia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Preah, Suramarit and National.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Preah Suramarit National Theatre”, the useful work is to connect “former national theatre of Cambodia” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 27, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q597036. VIAF identifies the subject as 218428184. Authority coordinates are 11.555, 104.942. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1966, 1968, 2008 and 1994.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Preah Suramarit National Theatre” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.