Talk:Roman Catholic Cathedral of Phnom Penh

Apparent discrepancies

The article has discrepancies: we say the cathedral was built in the 19th century (probably of red brick) but if you google the cathedral, you will find photographs of the cathedral with unfinished twin bell towers in the 1960's(?) made apparently of reinforced ochre-colored (yellowish tan) concrete. If the reinforced concrete cathedral was the one "disassembled" on orders of the Khmer Rouge, there's just no way the task could have been accomplished in one week (the task was done without machinery or explosives, and only using hand-tools like hammers and chisels). One Cambodian intellectual living in Paris decided to go back to Cambodia and throw in his lot with the Khmer Rouge after they came to power in April 1975. But he didn't do this until late 1975 or early 1976. His assigned task upon his return to Phnom Penh was to tear down the Catholic cathedral. So, the demolition took much longer than one week. Conclusion: this article needs more research. --108.45.72.196 (talk) 03:26, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

I fully agree with what you said IP. It's unfortunate that pics (which are reliable) that are posted on shady sources (i.e. blogs) contradict the reliable sources I found (i.e. books, newspapers, etc.). I've actually seen the pics you mentioned above; that's why I only hid the groundbreaking and consecrated dates in the infobox (as oppose to deleting them). I find those dates more easier to believe than the "19th century" construction date. Sadly, the sources I found on Google Books and their news archives don't mention the 1960s completion dates. If you (or anyone else reading this page) is able to help find that elusive source I've been looking for, please feel free to add it. As for now, we'll just have to stick with the 19th century date, since no other counter–source has been found yet. As a sidenote, it is possible to demolish a massive building in one week without explosives. I know it's just speculation, but I'm fairly certain the Khmer Rouge would've been using slave labour en masse from their concentration camps to carry out such tasks. And overworking hundreds or thousands of prisoners with shovels for the entire week doesn't seem out of their scope of crimes against humanity. If you can provide the counter–source mentioning the Cambodian intellectual living in Paris, that would be great. Cheers! —Bloom6132 (talk) 15:49, 26 December 2012 (UTC)

Evidence that the cathedral was still being demolished after July 1976 is found on pp.160–161 of Milton Osborne's book Phnom Penh: A Cultural History, where he mentions Ong Thong Hoeung's return to Cambodia. Ong Thong Hoeung's book is J'ai cru aux Khmers rouges but the googlebook snippet view is only partially informative: cathédrale and marteau are both on p.72 where OTH talks of smashing the pillars of a church with a hammer with all his might. (As I said before, there's no way you bring down a cathedral made of reinforced concrete in one week just using hand tools. It's not a question of not having a large enough labor force; it's a matter of how much damage a man with a hammer can do to reinforced concrete (not very much), and, if you put too many laborers ("hundreds of thousands") on the project at the same time, all they do is get in each other's way. As a reality check, I suggest you find an abandoned and about-to-be-demolished building made of reinforced concrete and attack it with the hand tool of your choice to see how much damage you can do. Please wear your safety goggles and watch out for the RCMP. To make it even more "realistic", bring along 100,000 of your closest friends, with shovels. LOL! I think I'm funny, even if you don't.) --108.45.72.196 (talk) 02:49, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

Fair enough. You proved me wrong on that point with the two sources. I've now removed the offending sentence from the article. If you'd like to add a sentence or two regarding approx. when the cathedral was destroyed, feel free to do so. (And yes, even I think you're pretty funny :) —Bloom6132 (talk) 10:01, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

You're a good man, Bloom. I think I'll do a little more research before adding those sentences. --108.45.72.196 (talk) 19:25, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

Name

Was it dedicated to Notre Dame or St Joseph ? Researches have to be made. I will try to find out. --Io Herodotus (talk) 10:50, 19 January 2016 (UTC)