👑 King Mindon

Mandalay is the last Burmese royal capital, located on the banks of the Irrawaddy River at the foot of Mandalay Hill. An important figure in the history of this city was King Mindon, at whose request the city was founded. He made it the capital of the country. King Mindon built many beautiful buildings in the city, two of which are particularly noteworthy:

🛕Kuthodaw Pagoda : a beautiful temple that houses the largest iron Buddha image in all of Burma, along with 1,774 slabs with commentaries on the Tipitaka, or Buddhist teachings. Peace, quiet, does anyone even look here? And it's definitely worth it. Hundreds of identical white chapels create an amazing picture, it's in them that marble slabs with extraordinary texts are located. This collection of teachings is also called the Pali Canon, because it was written in that language.

🛕Shwenandaw Kyaung Monastery: The monastery is built of teak wood, and the amount of wooden details is dizzying and testifies to the masterful passion of the sculptors. The monastery once stood on the grounds of the Royal Palace. King Mindon, lived in this building and then died. His successor decided that it was not a place for such a building and ordered it to be moved outside the palace walls. In this way, he saved this work of art from destruction during the war, which the entire palace complex was destroyed by.

The teak wood from which the monastery was built is extremely durable, water-resistant, and valued worldwide. Burma accounts for about one-third of the world's total teak production. Despite sanctions, the exclusive wood, teak, is shipped (including through Polish ports) to Europe. Profits from the trade support the brutal regime in Myanmar.Læs mere