Summary: The largest ancient bronze ever found in South-East Asia, a reclining murti of Bhagwan Vishnu from Cambodia's West Mebon temple, is now on display at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum. The "Vishnu's Cosmic Ocean" exhibition runs from 23 October to 25 January and ties Hindu belief in Bhagwan Vishnu on the cosmic ocean to the water engineering that underpinned Khmer royal power. The murti is on loan from the National Museum of Cambodia.
Why it matters: A thousand years on, a Hindu deity and the Khmer kings' Dharmic worldview are drawing Western museum-goers. It is a reminder of how far Bharatiya civilisation once reached.
“The glory of Angkor: Cambodia's 1,000-year-old Vishnu goes on display in San Francisco” — The Star, 26 Oct 2026
PHNOM PENH: A 1,000-year-old Cambodian bronze of the reclining Hindu god Vishnu has gone on display at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the US. The statue is part of an exhibition which explores the links between Hindu beliefs, water management systems and the power of the ancient Kings of the Khmer civilisation.
The “Vishnu’s Cosmic Ocean” exhibition opened to the public on October 23 and will run until January 25 next year.
The statue, the largest ancient bronze sculpture ever discovered in South-East Asia, is on loan from the National Museum of Cambodia, and will return to the Kingdom after the exhibition…
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