Cambodian bronze masterpiece West Mebon Vishnu undergoes restoration in France

The West Mebon Vishnu, one of the largest bronzes found at Cambodia's Angkor archaeological site, is being restored at a laboratory in western France.

The 11th century statue, part of the collection of the National Museum of Cambodia, depicts the Hindu god Vishnu reclining on the ocean of eternity. It was discovered in 1936 by French archaeologist Maurice Glaize, then the curator of Cambodia's Angkor archaeological site.

In May 2024, the statue arrived in France for technical studies and last November was taken to a laboratory in Nantes for restoration.

Cleaning and conservation

In a room at the Arc'Antique laboratory, the statue sits on a cart. Originally more than five metres tall, only the upper part of the statue remains – the head, both right arms (Vishnu has four arms), and the upper torso, which still measures more than 2.2 metres in length.

The first step is cleaning. White tape marks the areas that need attention. Stéphane Lemoine, a metal specialist, who is involved in the restoration told RFI: "We can already see there is localised encrustation on the corroded surfaces, which trap burial sediment and hinder the overall clarity of the work's details.

"We can choose to remove these encrustations to varying degrees, especially through mechanical means, in order to try to recover the surface the object had at the time of its abandonment in the mid-15th century..

"At the time, the entire surface of the Vishnu was gilded. Today, it is green because the fine gold leaf – applied with mercury – disappeared very quickly during burial. Some fragments remain, but you have to imagine that this statue, now green, was entirely gilded at the time."

There was also polychromy on the eyebrows, eyes and moustache, and the statue's lips would have been red.

'As symbolic as the Mona Lisa'

The reclining Vishnu masterpiece is unmatched in Khmer art according to Yannick Lintz, president of the Guimet Museum in Paris, where the statue will go on display following its restoration.

"Vishnu, as a figure, was obviously one of the great deities in the religious pantheon of Cambodia and all of south-east Asia, meaning he was spiritually and religiously of great importance. And then, as is often the case in art history, great religious works are also great works of art," she explained.

Paris museum accused of 'erasing' Tibet under pressure from China

"This monumental bronze of the reclining Vishnu, which resided in the middle of the temple known as the Mebon Temple in Angkor, is as symbolic as the Mona Lisa at the Louvre."

The statue will go on display at the Guimet Museum from 30 April until 8 September as part of an exhibition of Khmer bronzes, after which it will return to its home at the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh.