Read on Twitter
The West Baray is the largest man-made lake at Angkor. It is 8 km long and 2.2 km wide. It was created probably in the first half of the 11th century.
In the middle of this lake, there is a shrine called West Mebon. In 1936, on the West Mebon, fragments of a large bronze Viṣṇu Anantaśāyin sculpture were discovered. They are now displayed at the National Museum of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
The original sculpture was probably 6 meter long. Only 40% fragments were recovered. It was most likely entirely gilded as traces of gold leaf are found on it. The date of the sculpture and the West Mebon temple is 2nd half of the 11th century to 1st half of the 12th century.
Archeologists have tried to visualize the temple based on the information available. It had 12 gates, a causeway leading to a central platform with the sculpture on it. The platform most likely had a roofed structure for protection, not shown here.
