The bronze head of the West Mebon Reclining Vishnu

Asian Art MuseumCivic Center, San Francisco

Vishnu’s Cosmic Ocean

Now showing23 October 2026 – 25 January 2027$20

The nearly 20-foot West Mebon Reclining Vishnu, Southeast Asia's largest ancient bronze, on loan from Cambodia; its only West Coast stop before it returns home.

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On now All of October 2026

Preview: written before the show opened

In 1936 a villager reportedly dreamed of a statue buried beneath the West Mebon, an island temple in the middle of a reservoir at Angkor. In a pit there lay a bronze head and torso of Vishnu, with dozens of loose bronze fragments. For decades only the head and torso were shown. Conservators have now reconnected the remnants of a reclining god that was nearly twenty feet long when complete, the largest ancient bronze found in Southeast Asia.

You find him in the Osher Foundation Gallery. Around him, maps, videos and displays explain how Angkor's canals and reservoirs fed one of the medieval world's largest cities, and what recent research found: the bronze was once gilded. Picture Golden Gate Park flooded end to end, then add two miles: that was the reservoir, with the god on an island in the middle.

This is the tour's final stop before the Vishnu returns to Cambodia. Entry is included with general admission, and the museum is open until 8 PM on Thursdays.

Editor's pick

For decades only the West Mebon Vishnu's head and torso were shown. Conservators have rejoined the bronze fragments found with them at Angkor: the remains of a reclining god once nearly 20 feet long.

Look for

The reassembled Vishnu
Look for the head and torso shown alone since 1936, now joined to the bronze fragments found with them in the pit, the god reclining on his serpent.
Awkun, praCh Ly's film
The Cambodian American director follows a fisherman, a merchant and a young Buddhist monk through a day around the reservoir as it is today.
Angkor's waterworks
Maps and videos show the canals, reservoirs, moats and embankments that managed Angkor's seasonal water, including the five-mile West Baray where the statue lay.