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Everything that glitters is gold, diamonds, rubies and other precious tones. Yangon's premier landmark is 99 meters high and, according to the former English colonizers, contains more gold than is stored in te safe of the Bank of England. Mind you, this statement dates from the time that England was a world power, like the USA now. Gold plates cover a brick foundation, precious stones mostly at the top, woodcarving of exquisite quality and of course gilded, you just don't know where to look first.
The pagoda evolved from a religious building as old as 500 B.C, was contantly improved and decorated and reached its present height at 1769 when king Hsinbyushin mad his additions. He probably added the gold that he robbed from the city of Ayutthaya that he destroyed in 1767. Ayutthaya was the wealthy capital of the kingdom of Siam, the predecessor of Thailand. It is my theory that the Siamese robbed most of their gold from the Khmer when they sacked the Khmer capital of Angkor in 1431, so, following that thought, gold that used to be possession of the Khmer empire now shines on the most beautuful of all pagodas in the world, in Yangon.
The Shwedagon pagoda complex consistst of more than this pagoda: many small ones are around it, and around them are many pavillions of worship. It is remarkable how many people come to pray here: young and old, men and woman, couples and singless, groups and families. Everywhere deep religious people. It impressed me as much as the pagoda did. Visiting Shewdagon is the dream of every Buddhist Burmese, like a pilgrimage.
Because this pagoda is so beautiful, I had to make another visit; of course, at sunset. A selection of the pictures I made are on the next page...
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