Pagodas & Buddhist Temples in Myanmar

The crown jewel of Myanmar, the 99-meter-tall Shwedagon Pagoda is believed to enshrine relics of the four previous Buddhas, including eight strands of Gautama Buddha's hair. Covered in genuine gold plates and crowned with 5,448 diamonds and 2,317 rubies, it is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in the country.

The ancient city of Bagan contains over 2,200 surviving temples and pagodas from the original 10,000+ built between the 11th and 13th centuries. The vast plain of temples along the Irrawaddy River creates one of the most extraordinary archaeological landscapes in Asia.

Built by King Anawrahta to house a bone and tooth of Gautama Buddha, the Shwezigon Pagoda is a prototype for later Myanmar stupas. Its golden bell-shaped design became the standard for Burmese pagoda architecture.

Considered the finest and largest surviving temple in Bagan, Ananda features a perfectly symmetrical cruciform design with four standing Buddha statues, each nearly 10 meters tall, facing the four cardinal directions.

The Golden Rock is a 7.6-meter boulder covered in gold leaf, perched precariously on the edge of a cliff at 1,100 meters elevation. A small pagoda sits atop the rock, said to contain a hair of the Buddha that prevents it from falling.

The tallest temple in Bagan at 61 meters, Thatbyinnyu ('the Omniscient') represents the transition from the earlier single-story to later two-story temple design in Bagan architecture.

Houses the Mahamyatmuni Buddha image, the most revered Buddha image in Myanmar after the Shwedagon. The bronze statue has been covered with so many layers of gold leaf by devotees over centuries that it now appears amorphous.

Built to commemorate the unification of Theravada Buddhism in Myanmar, this modern pagoda near Shwedagon contains relics from all Buddhist countries. Its hollow interior features unique tilework and a Bo tree.

Contains over 582,357 Buddha images — more than any other temple in the world. The pagoda's exterior and interior are completely covered in Buddha statues of every size, from inches to meters tall.