The Atumashi Monastery ( my, အတုမရှိကျောင်း ; formally Mahā Atulaveyan Kyaungdawgyi or ) is a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

located in

Mandalay Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was fo ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

(

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

History

It was built in 1857 by King Mindon, two years after the capital was moved to Mandalay. The monastery was built at a cost of 500,000

rupees Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...

. The original monastery structure was built using

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...

, covered with stucco on the outside, with its peculiar feature being that it was surmounted by five graduated rectangular terraces instead of the traditional ''

pyatthat Pyatthat ( my, ပြာသာဒ်, ; from Sanskrit ; mnw, တန်ဆံၚ် ; also spelt pyathat) is the name of a multistaged roof, with an odd number of tiers (from three to seven). The pyatthat is commonly incorporated into Burmese B ...

''s, Burmese-style tiered and spired roofs. The structure burned down in 1890 after a fire in the city destroyed both the monastery and the tall Buddha image, as well as complete sets of the Tipitaka. During the fire, a 19.2-carat (32 ''

ratti Ratti (Sanskrit: ) is a traditional Indian unit of measurement for mass. Based on the nominal weight of a Gunja seed (''Abrus precatorius''), it measured approximately 1.8 or 1.75 grains or 0.11339 g as standardized weight. It is still used by t ...

'') diamond, which adorned the Buddha image (originally given to King

Bodawphaya Bodawpaya ( my, ဘိုးတော်ဘုရား, ; th, ปดุง; 11 March 1745 – 5 June 1819) was the sixth king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma. Born Maung Shwe Waing and later Badon Min, he was the fourth son of Alaungpaya, fou ...

by Maha Nawrahta, the Governor of Arakan) disappeared as well. In 1996, Burma's Archaeological Department reconstructed the monastery with prison labor.

Images

File:Atumashi Monastery 03.jpg, Golden door File:Atumashi Monastery interior.jpg, Interior

Notes

References

* * Monasteries in Myanmar 19th-century Buddhist temples Buildings and structures in Mandalay Region Religious buildings and structures completed in 1857 1857 establishments in Burma Buddhist temples in Mandalay {{Burma-struct-stub