History, games and currency: the Sosoro Museum opens its treasures to Francophone youth

The Sosoro Museum publishes its Youth Activity Booklet in French — an illustrated, interactive guide that invites children to explore 2,000 years of Cambodia's economic and monetary history.

The Sosoro Museum — dedicated to Cambodia's economic and monetary history — takes a new step by making its heritage accessible to Francophone youth.

As Cambodia hosts the Francophonie Summit this year, the institution publishes its Youth Activity Booklet in French, an educational tool as lively as it is ambitious.

Designed for children discovering the museum with their family or class, this illustrated booklet takes its readers on a journey through two millennia of Cambodian history. From the first Khmer civilizations to contemporary economic transformations, each page reveals with clarity and enthusiasm the major changes that have shaped the country.

"Let's visit the museum together!" — The booklet transforms each gallery into an intellectual adventure ground for young visitors.

The booklet's originality lies in its ability to make sometimes abstract economic realities tangible. The reconstruction of the national currency after the desperate years of the Khmer Rouge regime, the gradual liberalization of the economy, the practical equivalence between rice and the riel proposed by the National Bank of Cambodia to restore public confidence — all are chapters treated with remarkable pedagogy, blending informative texts, timelines, and fun activities.

The section dedicated to War and Reconstruction is particularly striking. It retraces how the NBC was re-established in 1979, how the riel was put back into circulation in 1980, and how the 1991 Paris Peace Accords opened the way for two decades of economic growth.

A lesson in history — and hope — at a child's level.

The interactive format is thoughtfully designed in every detail: puzzles invite readers to complete the missing letters of the National Bank's slogan, questions guide the observation of banknotes, and games stimulate historical curiosity. Throughout, a playful mascot and colorful illustrations bring the country's iconic monuments and figures to life.

In practice

The Youth Activity Booklet is available in Khmer, English, and now French, priced at 2,000 riels. It is on sale at the welcome desk and at the Sosoro Museum shop, Phnom Penh.

The French release of the booklet takes on special resonance in this year of the Francophonie Summit. It is part of a broader cultural momentum, celebrating the French language as a vehicle for transmitting Cambodian heritage to new generations — whether local or from the four corners of the Francophone world.

The Sosoro Museum, whose name evokes the sun and prosperity in Khmer, confirms with this initiative its vocation as an institution open to the world, committed to building bridges between national memory and universal curiosity. For families, classes, and all those who wish to understand Cambodia today through the lens of its economic history, the booklet is an ideal entry point — and a beautiful invitation to (re)discover the museum.