Founded by King Mindon of the Amarapura in 1857, Mandalay is the last royal capital of the Myanmar Kingdom. The city was not developed from a small settlement but particularly picked according to an ancient prophecy that the chosen area would become the Buddhist capital on occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.

The city was located on the Mandalay Hill on the eastern banks of Ayeyarwaddy River, 668 km north of Yangon. When the king moved the capital to the Mandalay Hill, the royal palace and houses were dismantled and loaded on carts and on the back of the elephants. The 1020-acre royal palace, which was built almost  entirely of teak, was protected by a wall and surrounded by a moat. After the Burmese kingdom was conquered by the British in 1886, they turned the royal palace of Mandalay into their military headquarters and renamed it as the complex Fort Dufferin.The palace was destroyed in 1945 by the British military during World War II.  The only original teak building that survived the fire is the Shwenandaw Kyaung meditation center, known for its intricate wood carvings. The whole palace was replicated in the 1990s and modeled after the original design.

In addition to the royal palace, Mandalay is now known for its traditional arts and crafts, ivory, wood, marble and stone carvings, hand woven silk and tapestries. It is the second largest city in Myanmar with the population of almost 1 million. It is a commercial center linking the north and the south of Burma, China and India.

Attractions in Mandalay

Mandalay Royal Palace

Constructed between 1857 and 1859, the architecture of Mandalay Palace largely followed the traditional Burmese palace design. Much of the palace compound was burned down during World War II by the British military (only the Royal Mint and the Watch Tower survived). A replica of the palace was rebuilt later with a mix of wood and modern materials. The palace grounds are protected by a walled fort and a 210-feet-wide moat. The royal palace is located at the center of the citadel and faces east. All buildings of the palace are of one story in height. The number of spires above a building determined the importance of the area.

Some interesting structures in the palace grounds include Royal Mausoleums, the Royal Mint and the Supreme Court or Hluttaw, which comprises two three-roofed wooden structures, richly decorated with figures and flowers, and supported by massive teak pillars. The highlights of the Royal Palace are the Great Audience Hall, the Lion Throne room and the Glass Palace, which is the king’s living quarter.  Each of them is lavishly decorated with elaborate carvings and sculptures. The top of the Watch Tower offers a good view of the Palace Grounds, Mandalay Hill and some of the surrounding temples.

Kuthodaw Pagoda

Kuthodaw is a Buddhist stupa that lies at the foot of Madalay Hill. Mindon Min, the founder of Mandalay, had the pagoda built as part of the tradition for the new royal city of Mandalay in 1857. He was later to hold the Fifth Buddhist Synod in 1871. that contains the world’s largest book. The stupa, which is gilded above its terraces, is 188 feet high, and modeled after the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U near Bagan. However, what makes the pagoda famous is not the pagoda but 729 smaller white pagodas around it. These pagodas are famed for housing the entire Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism on marble slabs. Both sides of each slap contain an inscription a page of text from the Tipitaka.  Each page of its 1460 pages is three and a half feet wide, five feet tall and five inches thick, thus making it the world’s largest book. Each stone tablet is kept in a pagoda, which is arranged around a Kuthodaw pagoda in neat rows within three enclosures. Work began on 14 October 1860 in a large shed near Mandalay Palace and finished in 1868.

Maha Muni Pagoda

Known as one of the most significant religious places in Myanmar besides Kyaiktiyo Pagoda (the Golden Rock) and Shwedagon Pagoda, Maha Muni Pagoda houses the Maha Muni (The Great Saga) Buddha image. The legend has it that the Buddha image was built in the Buddha’s own image during his lifetime. However, archeologists say it was most likely made around 150 AD or about 600 years after the Buddha’s death.

The seated Buddha image was originally from Rakhine Kingdom in the western plains of present Myanmar. When King Bodawpaya conquered Rakhine in 1784, he brought the Buddha image to his kingdom of Amanpura, about 20 kilometers from Mandalay. The pagoda was later built to house the Buddha image.

The Maha Muni image, also called Mahar Myat Muni Buddha, is 4 meter high and cast in bronze. Weighing 6.5 tons, it is richly adorned by gold amulets and precious stones.  Buddhist pilgrims crowd the pagoda each day to witness the ritual cleansing of the Buddha’s face and to place gold leaves on the image. The making of gold leaf thus becomes a prosperous industry in Mandalay. A visit to a workshop can be interesting.

The pagoda is situated about 3 km south of the Royal Palace on the road towards Amarapura. It is open daily from 6am-8pm. The entrance fee is US$4 for foreigners not accompanied by a tour package.

Shwenandaw Kyaung Monastery

The Shwenandaw Kyaung was one of the buildings moved from Amanpura during the founding of Mandalay and a part of the Glass Palace in the royal palace. After the death of King Mindon (he died in this monastery), his son moved this monastery to the current locatiion, which fortunately saved it from being destroyed during the World War II.

Thus, this monastery is one of the original structures left from King Mindon’s era. It showcases the exquisite work of 19th century Burmese architecture, particularly the art of wood carving. Almost every part of this large multi-tiered wooden structure from roof finials to walls is intricately carved in a form of deities, serpents, mythical animals and flowers. Some of the artefacts exhibited here are a replica of the Lion Throne and a Buddha image. Both the exterior and the interior were once gilded and decorated with glass mosaic. The building looks fragile and crumbling but it is worth visiting to see the craftsmanship of Burmese artists.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda

Kyauktawgyi Paya (Paya means Pagoda) is also known as the pagoda of the “Great Marble Image”. It is situated near the southern entry of Mandalay Hill. It is another pagoda constructed during the reign of King Mindon. Built in 1853, it took 25 years to be completed, partly because of a palace rebellion and domestic disturbances in the 1860s.

The main attraction of the Kyauktawgyi Paya is a huge seated Buddha statue ssculpted from a single block of pale green marble from the Sagyin quarry twelve miles north of Mandalay. It was said that the marble was so huge that it took 10,000-12,000 men over a thirteen day period to transport it from the Ayeyarwady river to the site of the pagoda where it was carved. The Buddha statue is in the Bhumisparsha Mudra position with the fingertips of his right hand touching the earth and his eyes nearly closed (most of Buddha images in Myanmar have his eyes wide open).

Other interesting structures are 4 roofed corridors connected to the pogoda from 4 directions. They are also linked to the garden of the arhats (enlightened diciples) where statues of 80 great arhats (Buddha’s great enlightened diciples during his time) are enshrined in 80 shrines. The religious festival is held at the Kyauktawgyi Paya every year in October.