Beneath the Phnom Penh sun, this iron screw-press now stands in Sosoro Museum’s courtyard, still echoing King Ang Duong’s 1853 efforts to modernize Cambodia’s mint. Rooted in nearby Udong and later photographed and saved in 1960 by Ch. Mayer, it long lingered in local belief as a machine inhabited by a neak (naga), a protective spirit with mysterious powers. Captured here in February 2026, the screw-press bridges royal technology, village memory, and the enduring spirituality that shapes Cambodian heritage.
