Bagan was known as Pagan, is an ancient city located in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. Bagan is considered to be the most ancient city that still exists. From 9th to 13th century, the city was the capital of Pagan Kingdom. Pagan Kingdom is the first knigdom that unified the regions that later constituted to be the modern Myanmar. The city has an enormous architecture of Pagodas and other religious places that are awe-inspiring symbols of Buddhist devotion. During the kingdom's height between the 11th and 13th centuries, over 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas, and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains alone, of which the remains of over 2,200 temples and pagodas still survive to the present day.Bagan is one of Asia's most popular archaeological destination. While on Myanmar travel and tours, get ready to be dazzled by the Shwedagon Paya ornamented with massive 27 metric tons of gold and diamond, believed to preserve eight hairs of Lord Buddha.
Places to visit in Bagan
Shwezigon Pagoda
Shwezigon Pagoda is a Buddhist temple located in Nyaung-U, a town near Bagan in Myanmar. A prototype of Burmese stupas it consists of a circular gold-leaf-gilded stupa surrounded by smaller temples and shrines. Construction of the Shwezigon Pagoda began during the reign of King Anawrahta (r. 1044–77), who was the founder of the Pagan Dynasty, in 1059–1060 and was completed in 1102 AD, during the reign of his son King Kyansittha. Over the centuries the pagoda had been damaged by many earthquakes and other natural calamities, and has been refurbished several times. In recent renovations it has been covered by more than 30,000 copper plates. However, the lowest level terraces have remained as they were.
This pagoda, a Buddhist religious place, is believed to enshrine a bone and tooth of Gautama Buddha. The pagoda is in the form of a cone formed by five square terraces with a central solid core. There are footprints below the four standing Buddha statues here. Jataka legends are depicted on glazed terra-cotta tiles set into three rectangular terraces. At the entrance of the pagoda there are large statues of guardians of the temple. There are also four bronze standing statues of Buddha which are stated to be of the current age Buddha. At the outer limits of the pagoda there are 37 nats deified along with an intricately carved wooden sculpture of Thagyamin a Burmese version of Hindu god Indra. Within the compound of the Shwezigon Pagoda there is a stone pillar containing Mon language inscriptions dedicated by Kyansittha. There are many tour companies that
Ananda Pagoda
The Ananda Temple located in Bagan, Myanmar. It is build in 1105 AD during the reign of King Kyanzittha of the Pagan Dynasty. It is one of four surviving temples in Bagan. The temple layout is in a cruciform with several terraces leading to a small pagoda at the top covered by an umbrella known as hti, which is the name of the umbrella or top ornament found in almost all pagodas in Myanmar. The Buddhist temple houses four standing Buddhas, each one facing the cardinal direction of East, North, West and South. The temple is said to be an architectural wonder in a fusion of Mon and adopted Indian style of architecture.The temple has close similarity to the Pathothamya temple of the 10th–11th century, and is also known as “veritable museum of stones”.Myanmar travel will take you through the sparkling waters of Inle Lake region bobbled with marshes and floating gardens, where hoisted houses rise above the water and lone fishermen drift their boat immersed in their own solitude untouched and uncorrupted by the allure of modernity.
Irrawaddy River is a river that flows from north to south through Myanmar. It is the country's largest river and most important commercial waterway. Originating from the confluence of the N'mai and Mali rivers, it flows relatively straight North-South before emptying through the Irrawaddy Delta into the Andaman Sea. Its drainage basin of about 404,200 square kilometres (156,100 sq mi) covers a large part of Burma. After Rudyard Kipling’s 's poem, it is sometimes referred to as ‘The Road to Mandalay’.
As early as the sixth century, the river was used for trade and transport. Having developed an extensive network of irrigation canals, the river became important to the British Empire after it had colonized Burma. The river is still as vital today, as a considerable amount of (export) goods and traffic moves by river. Rice is produced in the Irrawaddy Delta, irrigated by water from the river.
