The seat of Khmer power has never stayed in one place for long. From 802 AD until the early 15th century, it rested in or near Angkor, north of the great Tonle Sap Lake. When environmental pressures forced the court to abandon Angkor, it drifted south -- first to Phnom Penh around 1434, then onward to Basan, Longvek, and finally Oudong. The capital did not return to Phnom Penh until 1866, when King Norodom chose this site at the confluence of the rivers. He first lived in a temporary wooden structure near Wat Ounalom while workers built the permanent compound. Norodom's original palace -- a sprawling collection of throne halls, private villas, open-sided pavilions, and a western courtyard reserved exclusively for the king's household -- was almost entirely demolished by his half-brother King Sisowath between 1912 and 1919. Of Norodom's buildings, only the eastern wall section and the Napoleon Pavilion survive today.

The Throne Hall, known in Khmer as Preah Tineang Tevea Vinnichay, translates to "the Sacred Seat of Judgement." The cross-shaped building was inaugurated by King Sisowath in 1919 to replace Norodom's original, which had been demolished four years earlier. Its central spire rises 59 metres, crowned by the white four-faced head of Brahma. Inside stand three royal thrones and golden busts of Cambodian kings and queens stretching back to King Ang Doung. The traditional coronation throne, the Preah Tineang Bossabok, is a nine-level structure covered in intricate floral carvings, with small Garuda statues lifting its upper tiers. Three of those nine levels represent hell, middle earth, and the heavens. Four golden nine-tiered umbrellas called Aphirom surround it, and a white royal umbrella tops the whole assembly, signifying universal sovereignty. The building is still used today for coronations, royal weddings, and the reception of foreign ambassadors.

Among the palace's more unexpected structures is the Napoleon Pavilion, a prefabricated cast-iron villa manufactured in Paris by the firm Docros in 1875. During the 19th century, Cambodians called it the maison de fer -- the Iron House. The legend that Napoleon III commissioned it as a gift did not appear until 1925, in a history by a former colonial administrator. King Norodom gave it a far more poetic name: Tusitala, after the Buddhist heaven where the final Buddha awaits incarnation. Nearby stands the Moonlight Pavilion, or Chan Chhaya, an open-air stage built along the palace wall where Khmer classical dancers have performed for more than a century. Rebuilt in 1913-14 under King Sisowath, its balcony overlooks Sothearos Boulevard and has served as a tribune for kings addressing crowds below. As recently as 2004, it hosted the coronation banquet for King Norodom Sihamoni.

South of the main compound lies the Silver Pagoda, officially called Preah Vihear Preah Keo Morakot but better known as Wat Preah Keo. During King Sihanouk's pre-Khmer Rouge reign, workers inlaid its floor with 5,329 silver tiles and clad portions of the facade in Italian marble. Inside sits a small crystal Buddha -- Cambodia's "Emerald Buddha" -- whose origins remain debated: it may be 19th-century Baccarat crystal or a 17th-century artifact of unknown provenance. Beside it stands a life-sized gold Maitreya Buddha encrusted with 9,584 diamonds, commissioned by King Sisowath. The surrounding wall bears murals depicting the Reamker, the Khmer retelling of the Ramayana, though neglect has faded the lower portions over the years. Outside, a statue of King Norodom astride a white horse faces east toward the rising sun.

Nearly all of the original Norodom-era buildings have been demolished and replaced, and the Khmer Rouge years emptied the palace entirely. But the monarchy returned, and so did the rituals. Half the palace grounds remain closed to the public -- the Khemarin Palace, Villa Kantha Bopha, royal gardens, and various pavilions still serve the reigning king. Visitors can walk the Silver Pagoda compound and the central courtyard around the Throne Hall, where the Moonlight Pavilion still catches the evening light along the boulevard. The complex covers nearly 175,000 square metres, its defensive walls topped by decorative seima leaf shapes identical to those on Buddhist monasteries, marking everything within as sacred. In a city that has endured French colonialism, Japanese occupation, civil war, and genocide, the palace endures as both a functioning seat of power and a reminder of how many times the Khmer court has rebuilt itself.