Wender·Vista
Bayon
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileCambodia
at the centre of Angkor Thom

Bayon

— — two hundred stone faces, all of them looking.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“At the centre of Angkor Thom, the last great Khmer capital, the Bayon stands on three levels of laterite and sandstone. Two hundred large faces look out from fifty-four towers, half-smiling in every direction. Light moves across them through the day; at dawn the eastern faces warm first. Outside the third gallery, the long bas-reliefs run a chronicle of the twelfth-century kingdom along the wall.

from the studio
Bayon
— bring it home

Bayon, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Bayon

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

The Bayon sits at the exact centre of Angkor Thom, the walled capital of the Khmer Empire built by Jayavarman VII at the end of the twelfth century. Angkor Thom encloses about nine square kilometres on the north bank of the Siem Reap river, three kilometres north of the better-known Angkor Wat. The Bayon was the king's state temple and the spiritual centre of the city. The site is managed by the APSARA Authority and forms part of the Angkor UNESCO World Heritage property, listed in 1992.

— the stone

The temple's signature is 54 towers carved with serene faces — about 200 in total, half of them turning toward each cardinal direction. Most scholars read the faces as Lokeshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion; some as a portrait of Jayavarman VII himself, or both at once. Below the towers, two galleries of bas-relief carved into sandstone run for hundreds of metres, the outer chronicling Khmer–Cham wars and ordinary market life, the inner Hindu mythological scenes. The construction is laterite at the core, sandstone at the skin.

— informed by Wikipedia — Bayon
— the dawn

The Bayon is best in the first and last hour of light. At sunrise the eastern faces warm before the western ones, and the long shadows in the bas-relief galleries give the carving its depth; the coach groups tend to be at Angkor Wat instead. At sunset the western towers hold the last colour. The temple opens with the Angkor pass at 7:30 a.m. and closes at 5:30 p.m.; the three-day pass remains the most common way visitors structure a stay in Siem Reap.

— where
Cambodia · Siem Reap Province
— within
Angkor Archaeological Park
— elevation
24 m · 79 ft
— position
13.4413° N · 103.8587° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
3 km S
Angkor Wat
Hindu-Buddhist temple
4 km E
Ta Prohm
tree-bound temple
1 km N
Baphuon
pyramid temple
N
Bayon
Angkor Wat
Ta Prohm
Baphuon
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Bayon — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

At the centre of Angkor Thom, the late twelfth-century Khmer capital, three kilometres north of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia. The temple is part of the Angkor UNESCO World Heritage property.

King Jayavarman VII, who reigned from about 1181 to 1218 and ruled the Khmer Empire at its territorial peak. The Bayon served as his state temple and the spiritual centre of Angkor Thom.

About 200 large faces are carved across 54 towers, most towers carrying a face on each of the four cardinal directions. Many scholars identify the figure as the bodhisattva Lokeshvara.

The first and last hour of daylight. The eastern faces warm first at dawn, the western last at dusk, and the bas-relief galleries show their depth in low, raking light.

No. The Angkor pass — one-, three-, or seven-day — covers the Bayon along with the rest of the Angkor Archaeological Park. The three-day pass is the most common.

The outer gallery chronicles the Khmer–Cham wars and scenes from twelfth-century daily life: markets, cockfights, and processions. The inner gallery carries Hindu mythological scenes including the Churning of the Ocean of Milk.

— about the piece in your home

The Bayon is the picture most travellers carry home from Cambodia. For a returning aid worker, an architect drawn to Khmer stone, or a friend who walked the Angkor pass, a Medium with a handwritten note carries the place well.

The Voynich stained-glass treatment, with its warm sandstone golds, jungle greens, and stained-glass jewel tones, fits Japandi, Wabi-modern, and Maximalist rooms. It also sits well against a dark teak or limewashed wall.

Travel art has moved away from generic temple silhouettes toward named places with specific texture. A piece anchored on the Bayon's faces reads as a considered choice rather than a souvenir.

Above a standard three-seat sofa or a long console, the single Large reads at the right scale from across the room. For a wider wall, the four-tile Mural; for a feature wall, the nine-tile Mural.

Yes. Order the Dura Satin or Matte finish for any wet or steamy room. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, so the image will not fade.

A soft microfibre cloth with plain water lifts everyday dust and fingerprints. For kitchen splatter, a drop of mild soap in water works. No abrasive pads, no solvents, no scrubbing.

Yes. Every WenderVista tile is painted in Reid Wender's own studio language and finished in our Knoxville workshop. The art is not licensed from a stock library and is not sold through other channels.

— if this one stayed with you

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