At the museum we focus on educating our visitors about the dangers of landmines, where they came from, who laid them, how they work, and their presence in Cambodia. One mine means one life impacted and those odds are still far too high in Cambodia.
Hours of Operation
7:30-17:30 all days of the year
Cost
Adults – 5.00 USD
Children under 10 – Free
Cambodian citizens – Free
Guided tours
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 0900 – 1500 (English and Japanese)
For large groups we recommend you contact the Museum ahead of time.
All the money raised at the Landmine Museum is spent in Cambodia.
Your tickets, donations and shop purchases allow us to:
- pay all our employees fair salaries
- care for the children in our charge
- clear landmines in Cambodia
- build schools in villages that have no access to education
- build wells and provide hygiene programs in small villages
The idea for a Landmine Museum and Relief Facility came about when Aki Ra, an ex-child soldier. After years of fighting he returned to the villages in which he planted thousands of mines and began removing them, by hand, and defusing them with homemade tools.He displayed some of the items he had made safe and charged the tourists $1 to view them. He used the money to support the children in his care. It opened in 1997.
In the villages where Aki Ra cleared mines, he found many children wounded by landmines, orphaned or abandoned by their families. He brought them home where he and his wife Hourt cared for them along side their own children.
Originally, all of the children at the facility were landmine victims. Today the facility cares for children who suffer from a variety of difficulties. The last landmine victim left the facility in 2013 when he finished high school.
The original Landmine Museum was near the ticket booth for Angkor Wat Park, along the Siem Reap River. In 2006 it was ordered closed. A Canadian charity, the Cambodian Landmine Museum Relief Fund, founded by Canadian filmmaker Richard Fitoussi had been raising money to build a new facility. Land was found near Banteay Srey Temple and with the help of donors across the globe the CLMMRF built the current Landmine Museum. It opened in 2007.
The Relief Facility houses over 2 dozen children from small villages in Cambodia. The children are enrolled in public government school to continue their education. The Facility also has its own school building to enrich the children’s education with a computer lab, a library, English language classes, a playground, and a staff of 14. The Relief Facility accepts volunteers to help teach English, work in the Museum and assist in the office. Please see the Volunteer page to learn how to become a volunteer.
In 2008, with the help of the Landmine Relief Fund, a US charity, Aki Ra established a formal demining NGO, Cambodian Self Help Demining (CSHD). CSHD is a separate NGO and apart from the Museum. They clear landmines throughout the country.
