West Mebon: Angkor's Temple in the Great Lake Is Restored
The scaffolding is gone. At the centre of the West Baray, West Mebon has recovered its 11th-century outline. The APSARA National Authority plans to inaugurate it in November 2026. Visitors have not waited.
The West Baray is the largest reservoir in the Angkor area: about eight kilometres long and two wide. In the middle of this sheet of water, a rectangular platform rises from the lake. This is where West Mebon stands.
A temple on an island in the middle of the West Baray
When the waters rise, the temple becomes an island. When they fall, it can be reached on foot. Either way, the setting is rare at Angkor: a flat horizon, water on every side, and sandstone and laterite towers set on the lake.
According to APSARA, tourists are already coming to photograph the monument and admire its architecture. They point to the singularity of the site. The temple changes its look throughout the day, from sunrise to sunset.
The site is not yet officially open, though. The Authority is cleaning the grounds, organising the surroundings and improving the environment ahead of the inauguration.
More than ten years of restoration work at Angkor
West Mebon was built in the middle of the 11th century, under King Udayadityavarman II (1050-1066), and dedicated to Vishnu. The centuries took their toll. The temple had largely collapsed and many stones had gone missing. Maurice Glaize had already restored it once, from 1942 to 1944.
The project now coming to an end is Franco-Cambodian. It brings together APSARA and the French government. France's Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs funds it. The French School of Asian Studies (EFEO) supported it in the field.
It began in spring 2012, with archaeological test trenches in the dried-out Baray. The teams then rebuilt the temple by anastylosis: they put the original blocks back in place instead of making a copy. Carvers recreated the missing decoration in the old forms. In November 2022, APSARA announced that nine of the twelve towers were standing again.
Many of the craftspeople on site live in Angkor itself. Chheung Chey, a master carver, has worked on the park's temples since 1995. Ham Han, from Artisans d'Angkor, joined the team in 2019. With too few specialised stone carvers available, the ALIPH foundation supported the training of new craftspeople with Artisans d'Angkor between 2023 and 2025.
The reclining Vishnu, treasure of West Mebon
In 1936, excavations at West Mebon produced a major find. In a circular well, Maurice Glaize, conservator of Angkor, recovered fragments of a bronze statue: Vishnu reclining on the serpent of eternity.
It is the largest bronze ever found at Angkor. It originally measured more than five metres in length. It is kept at the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh.
The statue has travelled. It left for France in 2024 to be studied and restored, and was the centrepiece of the “Royal Bronzes of Angkor” exhibition at the Guimet museum in Paris, from 30 April to 8 September 2025. It was then due to be shown in several American cities before returning to Cambodia.
One detail has long intrigued scholars. In the 13th century, the Chinese envoy Zhou Daguan described a stone tower in the middle of a lake, housing a reclining bronze Buddha with water flowing from its navel. He was writing about the eastern lake. Glaize wondered whether the description fitted West Mebon better.
Visiting West Mebon: what we know
The official inauguration and opening to visitors are announced for November 2026. The exact date, opening hours and access conditions have not yet been made public. Until now, visitors reached the temple by boat from a pier on the south bank of the Baray when the water was high.
The temple lies in the west of the Angkor Archaeological Park, in Siem Reap province. The inauguration date is still to be announced.
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