Bagan (, ; formerly Pagan) is an ancient city and a UNESCO
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
in the
Mandalay Region
Mandalay Region ( my, မန္တလေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Mandalay Division) is an administrative divisions of Myanmar, administrative division of Myanmar. It is located in the center of the country, bordering ...
of
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 ...
. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the
Bagan Kingdom
The Kingdom of Pagan ( my, ပုဂံခေတ်, , ; also known as the Pagan Dynasty and the Pagan Empire; also the Bagan Dynasty or Bagan Empire) was the first Burmese kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern-da ...
, the first kingdom that unified the regions that would later constitute Myanmar. During the kingdom's height between the 11th and 13th centuries, more than 10,000
Buddhist temples
A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism represent ...
,
pagodas
A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...
and
monasteries
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 ...
were constructed in the Bagan plains alone,
of which the remains of over 2200 temples and pagodas survive.
The Bagan Archaeological Zone is a main attraction for
the country's nascent tourism industry.
Etymology
Bagan is the present-day
standard Burmese pronunciation of the Burmese word ''Pugan'' ( my-Mymr, ပုဂံ), derived from
Old Burmese
Old Burmese was an early form of the Burmese language, as attested in the stone inscriptions of Pagan, and is the oldest phase of Burmese linguistic history. The transition to Middle Burmese occurred in the 16th century. The transition to Middle ...
''Pukam'' ( my-Mymr, ပုကမ်). Its classical
Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...
name is ''
Arimaddana
Arimardanna Pura ( my, အရိမဒ္ဒနာပူရ, ; ''Arimardanapur,'' ) is the most famous classical name of the city of Bagan (Pagan), Myanmar. It means the "City that Tramples on Enemies."Lieberman 2003: 91
The Burmese chronicles d ...
pura'' ( my-Mymr, အရိမဒ္ဒနာပူရ, lit. "the City that Tramples on Enemies"). Its other names in Pali are in reference to its extreme dry zone climate: ''Tattadesa'' ( my-Mymr, တတ္တဒေသ, "parched land"), and ''Tampadīpa'' ( my-Mymr, တမ္ပဒီပ, "bronzed country").
[Than Tun 1964: 117–118] The
Burmese chronicles
The royal chronicles of Myanmar ( my, မြန်မာ ရာဇဝင် ကျမ်းများ ; also known as Burmese chronicles) are detailed and continuous chronicles of the monarchy of Myanmar (Burma). The chronicles were written o ...
also report other classical names of ''
Thiri Pyissaya
Thiri Pyissaya ( my, သီရိပစ္စယာ, ; also spelled Siripaccaya, Sanskrit: श्रीप्रत्यय ''Śripratyaya'' ) is a classical name of the city of Bagan, Myanmar. According to the ''Hmannan Yazawin'' chronicle, King ...
'' ( my-Mymr, သီရိပစ္စယာ; pi, Siripaccaya) and ''
Tampawaddy Tampawaddy or Tamrawati( my, တမ္ပဝတီ, , also spelt Tampavatī, Sanskrit: ताम्बावती ''Taambavatee,'' ) is a classical name of the city of Bagan (Pagan), Myanmar. According to the Burmese chronicles, King Thaik Taing ...
'' ( my-Mymr, တမ္ပဝတီ; pi, Tampavatī).
[Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 139–141]
History
9th to 13th centuries
![Pagan Empire -- Sithu II](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Pagan_Empire_--_Sithu_II.PNG)
According to the
Burmese chronicles
The royal chronicles of Myanmar ( my, မြန်မာ ရာဇဝင် ကျမ်းများ ; also known as Burmese chronicles) are detailed and continuous chronicles of the monarchy of Myanmar (Burma). The chronicles were written o ...
, Bagan was founded in the second century
AD, and fortified in 849 AD by King
Pyinbya
Pyinbya ( my, ပျဉ်ပြား, ; 817–876) was the king of Pagan Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) who founded the city of Pagan (Bagan) in 849 CE. Though the Burmese chronicles describe him as the 33rd king of the dynasty founded in early 2nd ...
, 34th successor of the founder of early Bagan.
[Harvey 1925: 18] Mainstream scholarship however holds that Bagan was founded in the mid-to-late 9th century by the
Mranma (Burmans), who had recently entered the Irrawaddy valley from the
Nanzhao Kingdom
Nanzhao (, also spelled Nanchao, ) was a dynastic kingdom that flourished in what is now southern China and northern Southeast Asia during the 8th and 9th centuries. It was centered on present-day Yunnan in China.
History
Origins
Nanzha ...
. It was among several competing
Pyu city-states
, conventional_long_name = Pyu city-states
, common_name = Pyu City States
, era = Classical antiquity
, status = City
, event_start = Earliest Pyu presence in Upper Burma
, year_start = c. 2nd century BCE
, date_start =
, event_en ...
until the late 10th century when the Burman settlement grew in authority and grandeur.
[Lieberman 2003: 90–91]
From 1044 to 1287, Bagan was the capital as well as the political, economic and cultural nerve center of the
Bagan Empire
The Kingdom of Pagan ( my, ပုဂံခေတ်, , ; also known as the Pagan Dynasty and the Pagan Empire; also the Bagan Dynasty or Bagan Empire) was the first Burmese kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern-da ...
. Over the course of 250 years, Bagan's rulers and their wealthy subjects constructed over 10,000 religious monuments (approximately 1000 stupas, 10,000 small temples and 3000 monasteries)
[Stadtner 2011: 216] in an area of in the Bagan plains. The prosperous city grew in size and grandeur, and became a cosmopolitan center for religious and secular studies, specializing in Pali scholarship in grammar and philosophical-psychological (''
abhidhamma'') studies as well as works in a variety of languages on
prosody,
phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
, grammar,
astrology
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial o ...
,
alchemy
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...
, medicine, and legal studies.
[Lieberman 2003: 115–116] The city attracted monks and students from as far as
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
and the
Khmer Empire.
The culture of Bagan was dominated by religion. The religion of Bagan was fluid, syncretic and by later standards, unorthodox. It was largely a continuation of religious trends in the
Pyu era where
Theravada Buddhism
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
co-existed with
Mahayana Buddhism
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing bra ...
,
Tantric Buddhism
Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring t ...
, various Hindu (
Saivite
Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangin ...
, and
Vaishana) schools as well as native animist (''
nat
Nat or NAT may refer to:
Computing
* Network address translation (NAT), in computer networking
Organizations
* National Actors Theatre, New York City, U.S.
* National AIDS trust, a British charity
* National Archives of Thailand
* National As ...
'') traditions. While the royal patronage of Theravada Buddhism since the mid-11th century had enabled the Buddhist school to gradually gain primacy, other traditions continued to thrive throughout the Pagan period to degrees later unseen.
The Pagan Empire collapsed in 1287 due to repeated
Mongol invasions
The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire: the Mongol Empire ( 1206- 1368), which by 1300 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...
(1277–1301). Recent research shows that Mongol armies may not have reached Bagan itself, and that even if they did, the damage they inflicted was probably minimal.
[ Lieberman 2003: 119–120] However, the damage had already been done. The city, once home to some 50,000 to 200,000 people, had been reduced to a small town, never to regain its preeminence. The city formally ceased to be the capital of Burma in December 1297 when the
Myinsaing Kingdom
, conventional_long_name = Myinsaing Kingdom
, common_name = Myinsaing Kingdom
, era = Warring states
, status = Regency
, event_pre =
, date_pre = 1277–87
, event_start =
, year_start ...
became the new power in Upper Burma.
[Htin Aung 1967: 74][Than Tun 1959: 119–120]
14th to 19th centuries
![Hot air balloon over a pagoda in Bagan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Hot_air_balloon_over_a_pagoda_in_Bagan.jpg)
Bagan survived into the 15th century as a human settlement,
[Aung-Thwin 1985: 196–197] and as a pilgrimage destination throughout the imperial period. A smaller number of "new and impressive" religious monuments still went up to the mid-15th century but afterward, new temple constructions slowed to a trickle with fewer than 200 temples built between the 15th and 20th centuries.
The old capital remained a pilgrimage destination but pilgrimage was focused only on "a score or so" most prominent temples out of the thousands such as the
Ananda, the
Shwezigon, the
Sulamani
Sulamani (April 9, 1999 – February 18, 2017) was an Irish-bred thoroughbred race horse who competed and won in Dubai, Europe and North America.
A great-grandson of English Triple Crown champion, Nijinsky, he made his racing debut in April 200 ...
, the
Htilominlo
Htilominlo ( my, ထီးလိုမင်းလို, ; also called Nadaungmya or Zeya Theinkha Uzana; 1175 – 1235) was king of Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1211 to 1235. His 24-year reign marked the beginning of the gradual declin ...
, the
Dhammayazika, and a few other temples along an ancient road. The rest—thousands of less famous, out-of-the-way temples—fell into disrepair, and most did not survive the test of time.
For the few dozen temples that were regularly patronized, the continued patronage meant regular upkeep as well as architectural additions donated by the devotees. Many temples were repainted with new frescoes on top of their original Pagan era ones, or fitted with new Buddha statutes. Then came a series of state-sponsored "systematic" renovations in the
Konbaung period (1752–1885), which by and large were not true to the original designs—some finished with "a rude plastered surface, scratched without taste, art or result". The interiors of some temples were also whitewashed, such as the
Thatbyinnyu and the Ananda. Many painted inscriptions and even murals were added in this period.
[Stadtner 2011: 217]
20th century to present
![Pumpkin Pagoda -Bupaya Pagoda-, Pagan, Upper Burma](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Pumpkin_Pagoda_-Bupaya_Pagoda-%2C_Pagan%2C_Upper_Burma.jpg)
Bagan, located in an active earthquake zone, had suffered from many earthquakes over the ages, with over 400 recorded earthquakes between 1904 and 1975.
[Unesco 1976: ix] A
major earthquake
Seismic magnitude scales are used to describe the overall strength or "size" of an earthquake. These are distinguished from seismic intensity scales that categorize the intensity or severity of ground shaking (quaking) caused by an earthquake at ...
occurred on 8 July 1975, reaching 8
MM in Bagan and
Myinkaba, and 7 MM in
Nyaung-U
Nyaung-U ( my, ညောင်ဦးမြို့) is the administrative town of Nyaung-U Township of Nyaung-U District in the Mandalay Region of central Myanmar. It lies on the eastern bank of Ayeyarwaddy River. It is just 4 kilometers away ...
.
[Ishizawa and Kono 1989: 114] The quake damaged many temples, in many cases, such as the
Bupaya, severely and irreparably. Today, 2229 temples and pagodas remain.
[Köllner, Bruns 1998: 117]
Many of these damaged pagodas underwent restorations in the 1990s by the
military government
A military government is generally any form of government that is administered by military forces, whether or not this government is legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issue, and whether this government is formed by natives or by an occup ...
, which sought to make Bagan an international tourist destination. However, the restoration efforts instead drew widespread condemnation from art historians and preservationists worldwide. Critics are aghast that the restorations paid little attention to original architectural styles, and used modern materials, and that the government has also established a
golf course
A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...
, a paved highway, and built a watchtower. Although the government believed that the ancient capital's hundreds of (unrestored) temples and large corpus of stone inscriptions were more than sufficient to win the designation of UNESCO World Heritage Site,
[Unesco 1996] the city was not so designated until 2019, allegedly mainly on account of the restorations.
[Tourtellot 2004]
Bagan today is a main tourist destination in the country's nascent tourism industry, which has long been the target of various boycott campaigns. Several Burmese publications note that the city's small tourism infrastructure will have to expand rapidly even to meet a modest pickup in tourism in the following years.
On 24 August 2016, a
major earthquake
Seismic magnitude scales are used to describe the overall strength or "size" of an earthquake. These are distinguished from seismic intensity scales that categorize the intensity or severity of ground shaking (quaking) caused by an earthquake at ...
hit central Myanmar and again did major damage in Bagan; this time almost 400 temples were destroyed. The
Sulamani
Sulamani (April 9, 1999 – February 18, 2017) was an Irish-bred thoroughbred race horse who competed and won in Dubai, Europe and North America.
A great-grandson of English Triple Crown champion, Nijinsky, he made his racing debut in April 200 ...
and Myauk Guni (North Guni) were severely damaged. The Bagan Archaeological Department has started a survey and reconstruction effort with the help of UNESCO experts. Visitors are prohibited from entering 33 damaged temples.
On 6 July 2019, Bagan was officially inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, after 24 years since the military government first nominated the city in 1995, during the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee. This makes Bagan the second World Heritage Site in Myanmar, after the
Ancient Cities of Pyu. As part of the criteria for the inscription of Bagan, the government of Myanmar has pledged to relocate existing hotels in the archaeological zone to a dedicated hotel zone by 2028.
Geography
The Bagan Archaeological Zone, defined as the area centred around Old Bagan, consisting of
Nyaung U
Nyaung-U ( my, ညောင်ဦးမြို့) is the administrative town of Nyaung-U Township of Nyaung-U District in the Mandalay Region of central Myanmar. It lies on the eastern bank of Ayeyarwaddy River. It is just 4 kilometers away ...
in the north and New Bagan in the south,
lies in the vast expanse of plains in Upper Burma on the bend of the
Irrawaddy river
The Irrawaddy River ( Ayeyarwady River; , , from Indic ''revatī'', meaning "abounding in riches") is a river that flows from north to south through Myanmar (Burma). It is the country's largest river and most important commercial waterway. Origi ...
. It is located south-west of
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 ...
and north of
Yangon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
.
Climate
Bagan lies in the middle of the "dry zone" of Burma, the region roughly between
Shwebo
Shwebo ( my, ရွှေဘိုမြို့ ) is a city in Sagaing Region, Burma, 110 km north-west of Mandalay between the Irrawaddy and the Mu rivers. The city was the origin of the Konbaung Dynasty, established by King Alaungpaya ...
in the north and
Pyay
Pyay (, ; mnw, ပြန် , ; also known as Prome and Pyè) is principal town of Pyay Township in the Bago Region in Myanmar. Pyay is located on the bank of the Irrawaddy River, north-west of Yangon. It is an important trade center for the Aye ...
in the south. Unlike the coastal regions of the country, which receive annual monsoon rainfalls exceeding , the dry zone gets little precipitation as it is sheltered from the rain by the
Rakhine Yoma
The Arakan Mountains ( my, ရခိုင်ရိုးမ), also known as the Rakhine Yoma, are a mountain range in western Myanmar, between the coast of Rakhine State and the Central Myanmar Basin, in which flows the Irrawaddy River. It is th ...
mountain range in the west.
Available online climate sources report Bagan climate quite differently.
Cityscape
Architecture
Bagan stands out for not only the sheer number of religious edifices of Myanmar but also the magnificent architecture of the buildings, and their contribution to Burmese temple design. The artistry of the architecture of pagodas in Bagan proves the achievement of Myanmar craftsmen in handicrafts. The Bagan temple falls into one of two broad categories: the ''
stupa
A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation.
In Buddhism, circumamb ...
''-style solid temple and the ''gu''-style (ဂူ) hollow temple.
Stupas
A ''stupa'', also called a pagoda or chedi, is a massive structure, typically with a relic chamber inside. The Bagan ''stupas'' or pagodas evolved from earlier Pyu designs, which in turn were based on the ''stupa'' designs of the
Andhra region
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
, particularly
Amaravati
Amaravati () is the capital of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located on the banks of the river Krishna in Guntur district.
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone at a ceremonial event in Uddandar ...
and
Nagarjunakonda
Nagarjunakonda (IAST: Nāgārjunikoṇḍa, meaning Nagarjuna Hill) is a historical town, now an island located near Nagarjuna Sagar in Palnadu district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, near the state border with Telangana. It is one of ...
in present-day south-eastern India, and to a smaller extent to
Ceylon
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
.
[Aung-Thwin 2005: 26–31] The Bagan-era stupas in turn were the prototypes for later Burmese stupas in terms of symbolism, form and design, building techniques and even materials.
[Aung-Thwin 2005: 233–235]
Originally, a Ceylonese ''stupa'' had a hemispheric body ( pi, anda "the egg"), on which a rectangular box surrounded by a stone
balustrade
A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...
(''harmika'') was set. Extending up from the top of the ''stupa'' was a shaft supporting several ceremonial umbrellas. The ''stupa'' is a representation of the
Buddhist cosmos: its shape symbolizes
Mount Meru
Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु), also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru, is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be the centre of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritu ...
while the umbrella mounted on the brickwork represents the world's axis.
[Köllner, Bruns 1998: 118–120] The brickwork pediment was often covered in stucco and decorated in relief. Pairs or series of ogres as guardian figures ('bilu') were a favourite theme in the Bagan period.
The original Indic design was gradually modified first by the
Pyu
Pyu, also spelled Phyu or Phyuu, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. is a town in Taungoo District, Bago Region in Myanmar. It is the administrative seat of Phyu Township
Pyu Township is a township in Taungoo District in the ...
, and then by Burmans at Bagan where the ''stupa'' gradually developed a longer, cylindrical form. The earliest Bagan ''stupas'' such as the Bupaya (c. 9th century) were the direct descendants of the Pyu style at
Sri Ksetra
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Sri Ksetra
, common_name = Kingdom of Sri Ksetra
, era = Classical Antiquity
, status = City-state
, event_start = Founding of Kingdom
, year_start = c. 3rd to 9th century CE
, date_start =
, ...
. By the 11th century, the ''stupa'' had developed into a more bell-shaped form in which the parasols morphed into a series of increasingly smaller rings placed on one top of the other, rising to a point. On top the rings, the new design replaced the ''harmika'' with a lotus bud. The lotus bud design then evolved into the "banana bud", which forms the extended apex of most Burmese pagodas. Three or four rectangular terraces served as the base for a pagoda, often with a gallery of terra-cotta tiles depicting Buddhist ''
jataka
The Jātakas (meaning "Birth Story", "related to a birth") are a voluminous body of literature native to India which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. According to Peter Skilling, this genre is ...
'' stories. The
Shwezigon Pagoda
The Shwezigon Pagoda or Shwezigon Paya ( my-Mymr, ရွှေစည်းခုံဘုရား ) is a Buddhist stupa located in Nyaung-U, Myanmar. A prototype of Burmese stupas, it consists of a circular gold leaf-gilded stupa surrounded b ...
and the
Shwesandaw Pagoda are the earliest examples of this type.
Examples of the trend toward a more bell-shaped design gradually gained primacy as seen in the
Dhammayazika Pagoda
The Dhammayazika Pagoda ( my, ဓမ္မရာဇိကဘုရား, ) is a Buddhist temple located in the village of Pwasaw (located east of Bagan) in Myanmar. It was built in 1196 during the reign of King Narapatisithu. The pagoda is cir ...
(late 12th century) and the
Mingalazedi Pagoda
Mingalazedi Pagoda ( my, မင်္ဂလာစေတီ, ; also spelt Mingalar Zedi Pagoda) is a Buddhist stupa located in Bagan, Burma. Construction started in 1274 during the reign of King Narathihapate. The pagoda is one of few temples in B ...
(late 13th century).
[Aung-Thwin 2005: 210–213]
Hollow temples
In contrast to the ''stupas'', the hollow ''gu''-style temple is a structure used for meditation, devotional worship of the Buddha and other Buddhist rituals. The ''gu'' temples come in two basic styles: "one-face" design and "four-face" design—essentially one main entrance and four main entrances. Other styles such as five-face and hybrids also exist. The one-face style grew out of 2nd century
Beikthano
Beikthano ( my, ဗိဿနိုး, , also known as Panhtwa city), is situated in the irrigated Magway Region, near present-day Taungdwingyi. In the era of the Pyu city-states it was a city of considerable significance, possibly a local capital ...
, and the four-face out of 7th century Sri Ksetra. The temples, whose main features were the pointed arches and the vaulted chamber, became larger and grander in the Bagan period.
[Aung-Thwin 2005: 224–225]
Innovations
Although the Burmese temple designs evolved from Indic, Pyu (and possibly Mon) styles, the techniques of vaulting seem to have developed in Bagan itself. The earliest vaulted temples in Bagan date to the 11th century, while the vaulting did not become widespread in India until the late 12th century. The masonry of the buildings shows "an astonishing degree of perfection", where many of the immense structures survived the 1975 earthquake more or less intact.
(Unfortunately, the vaulting techniques of the Bagan era were lost in the later periods. Only much smaller ''gu'' style temples were built after Bagan. In the 18th century, for example, King
Bodawpaya
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 ...
attempted to build the
Mingun Pagoda
The Mingun Pahtodawgyi ( my-Mymr, မင်းကွန်းပုထိုးတော်ကြီး, ) is an incomplete monument stupa in Mingun, approximately northwest of Mandalay in Sagaing Region in central Myanmar (formerly Burma). The ...
, in the form of spacious vaulted chambered temple but failed as craftsmen and masons of the later era had lost the knowledge of vaulting and keystone arching to reproduce the spacious interior space of the Bagan hollow temples.
)
Another architectural innovation originated in Bagan is the Buddhist temple with a pentagonal floor plan. This design grew out of hybrid (between one-face and four-face designs) designs. The idea was to include the veneration of the
Maitreya Buddha
Maitreya (Sanskrit: ) or Metteyya (Pali: ), also Maitreya Buddha or Metteyya Buddha, is regarded as the future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. As the 5th and final Buddha of the current kalpa, Maitreya's teachings will be aimed at ...
, the future and fifth Buddha of this era, in addition to the four who had already appeared. The Dhammayazika and the
Ngamyethna Pagoda are examples of the pentagonal design.
Notable cultural sites
Museums
* The Bagan Archaeological Museum: The only museum in the Bagan Archaeological Zone, itself a field museum a millennium old. The three-story museum houses a number of rare Bagan period objects including the original
Myazedi inscription
Myazedi inscription ( my, မြစေတီ ကျောက်စာ ; also Yazakumar Inscription or the Gubyaukgyi Inscription), inscribed in 1113, is the oldest surviving stone inscription of the Burmese language. "Myazedi" means "emerald stupa" ...
s, the
Rosetta stone
The Rosetta Stone is a stele composed of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a Rosetta Stone decree, decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle te ...
of Burma.
* Anawrahta's Palace: It was rebuilt in 2003 based on the extant foundations at the old palace site.
[Ministry of Culture] But the palace above the foundation is completely conjectural.
3D Documentation with LiDAR
The
Zamani Project
The Zamani Project is part of the African Cultural Heritage Sites and Landscapes Database. Zamani is a research group at the University of Cape Town, which acquires, models, presents and manages spatial and other data from cultural heritage sites. ...
from the
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...
, South Africa, offered its services towards the spatial documentation of monuments in Bagan in response to the destruction of monuments by an
earthquake in August 2016. After reconnaissance visit to Bagan and a subsequent meeting at the UNESCO offices in Bangkok in February 2017, the Zamani Project documented 12 monuments in Bagan using
LiDAR
Lidar (, also LIDAR, or LiDAR; sometimes LADAR) is a method for determining ranges (variable distance) by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. It can also be ...
, during three field campaigns between 2017 and 2018,
including Kubyauk-gyi (
Gubyaukgyi) (298); Kyauk-ku-umin (154); Tha-peik-hmauk-gu-hpaya (744); Sula-mani-gu-hpaya (
Sulamani
Sulamani (April 9, 1999 – February 18, 2017) was an Irish-bred thoroughbred race horse who competed and won in Dubai, Europe and North America.
A great-grandson of English Triple Crown champion, Nijinsky, he made his racing debut in April 200 ...
) (748) Monument 1053; Sein-nyet-ama (1085); Sein-nyet-nyima (1086); Naga-yon-hpaya (1192); Loka-ok-shaung (1467); Than-daw-kya (1592); Ananda Monastery; and the City Gate of old Bagan (
Tharabha Gate
The Tharabha Gate ( my, သရပါ တံခါး, ; also spelled Sarabha or Tharaba) is the only surviving gate of Bagan (Pagan). The gate is located to the east of the old city. Although the Burmese chronicles assert that the city of Bagan w ...
).
Transport
Bagan is accessible by air, rail, bus, car and river boat.
Air
Most international tourists fly to the city. The
Nyaung U Airport
Nyaung U Airport ( my, ပုဂံညောင်ဦးလေဆိပ်) is an airport located in Nyaung-U (or Nyaung Oo), a town in the Mandalay Region, Myanmar. It is the primary air gateway to the ancient sites of Bagan and surrounding a ...
is the gateway to the Bagan region. Several domestic airlines have regular flights to
Yangon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
, which take about 80 minutes to cover the 600 kilometres. Flights to
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 ...
take approximately 30 minutes and to
Heho
Heho ( my, ဟဲဟိုး) is a small town in Kalaw Township, Taunggyi District, Shan State of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is the primary air gateway to tourist areas such as Inle Lake.
Heho is connected by NH4 to Sakangyi and Taunggyi, th ...
about 40 minutes.
The airport is located on the outskirts of
Nyaung U
Nyaung-U ( my, ညောင်ဦးမြို့) is the administrative town of Nyaung-U Township of Nyaung-U District in the Mandalay Region of central Myanmar. It lies on the eastern bank of Ayeyarwaddy River. It is just 4 kilometers away ...
and it takes about 20 minutes by taxi to reach Bagan.
Rail
The city is on a spur from the Yangon-Mandalay rail line.
Myanmar Railways
Rail transport in Myanmar consists of a railway network with 960 stations. The network, generally spanning north to south with branch lines to the east and west, is the second largest in Southeast Asia, and includes the Yangon Circular Railway ...
operates a daily overnight train service each way between
Yangon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
and Bagan (Train Nos 61 & 62), which takes at least 18 hours. The trains have a sleeper car and also 1st Class and Ordinary Class seating.
Between
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 ...
and Bagan there are two daily services each way (Train Nos 117,118,119 & 120) that take at least 8 hours. The trains have 1st Class and Ordinary Class seating.
Buses and cars
Overnight buses and cars also operate to and from
Yangon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
and
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 ...
taking approximately 9 and 6 hours respectively.
Boat
An 'express' ferry service runs between Bagan and
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 ...
. Following the Irrawaddy river the fastest ferry takes around 9 hours to travel the 170 kilometres. The service runs daily during peak periods and slower sailings with overnight stops are also available.
Economy
![Bagan-Lacquerware-Factory-Workers](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Bagan-Lacquerware-Factory-Workers.JPG)
Bagan's economy is based mainly on
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
. Because of boycotts against the previous military government, the Bagan region's tourism infrastructure is still quite modest by international standards. The city has a few international standard hotels and many family-run guesthouses. Bagan is also the center of Burmese
lacquerware
Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. Lacquerware includes small or large containers, tableware, a variety of small objects carried by people, and larger objects such as furniture and even coffins painted with lacquer. Befor ...
industry, which to a large degree depends on tourist demand. Much of the lacquerware is destined for souvenir shops in Yangon, and to the world markets. Moreover, the lacquerware-making process itself has become a tourist draw.
Demographics
The population of Bagan in its heyday is estimated anywhere between 50,000
[Harvey 1925: 78] to 200,000 people.
[Köllner, Bruns 1998: 115] Until the advent of tourism industry in the 1990s, only a few villagers lived in Old Bagan. The rise of tourism has attracted a sizable population to the area. Because Old Bagan is now off limits to permanent dwellings, much of the population reside in either New Bagan, south of Old Bagan, or Nyaung-U, north of Old Bagan. The majority of native residents are
Bamar
The Bamar (, ; also known as the Burmans) are a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group native to Myanmar (formerly Burma) in Southeast Asia. With approximately 35 million people, the Bamar make up the largest ethnic group in Myanmar, constituting 68% of th ...
.
Administration
The Bagan archaeological zone is part of
Nyaung-U District
Nyaung-U is a district of the Mandalay Division in central Burma.
Townships
The district contains the following township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
...
,
Mandalay Region
Mandalay Region ( my, မန္တလေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Mandalay Division) is an administrative divisions of Myanmar, administrative division of Myanmar. It is located in the center of the country, bordering ...
.
Sister cities
*
Luang Prabang
Luang Phabang, ( Lao: ຫລວງພະບາງ/ ຫຼວງພະບາງ) or ''Louangphabang'' (pronounced ), commonly transliterated into Western languages from the pre-1975 Lao spelling ຫຼວງພຣະບາງ (ຣ = silent r) ...
,
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
[Pan Eiswe Star and Soe Than Linn 2010]
*
Siem Reap
Siem Reap ( km, សៀមរាប, ) is the second-largest city of Cambodia, as well as the capital and largest city of Siem Reap Province in northwestern Cambodia.
Siem Reap has French colonial and Chinese-style architecture in the Old F ...
,
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
[
]
Gallery
File:Bagan, Myanmar, Bagan landscape at sunset, mystery and magic.jpg, Bagan Plains
File:Old Bagan, Myanmar, Bagan plains at sunset, Ancient city.jpg, Bagan Plains
File:Bagan as Seen from the Viewing Tower.jpg, As seen from the Nanmyint Viewing Tower
File:Balloon over Bagan.jpg, Aerial views from a hot air balloon
File:Bagan, Myanmar, Ancient temples at sunset.jpg, Bagan temples at sunset
File:Dreams of Myanmar (8280448574).jpg, Bagan Plains at sunset
File:Bagan, Myanmar, Htilominlo Temple and other Buddhist stupas in Bagan plain.jpg, Htilominlo Temple and other temples
File:Bagan, Myanmar, Thatbyinnyu Temple.jpg, The Thatbyinnyu Temple
The Thatbyinnyu Temple ( my, သဗ္ဗညု ဘုရား, ; pi, Sabbannu or "the Omniscient") is a Theravadin Buddhist temple in Bagan (Pagan), Myanmar. The temple is recognized as a monument in the Bagan Archeological Area, a UNESCO Wor ...
File:GawdawpalinD.jpg, The Gawdawpalin
File:Bagan, Myanmar, Dhammayangyi Temple.jpg, The Dhammayangyi
File:Shwezigon-Bagan-Myanmar-06-gje.jpg, The Shwezigon
File:Bagan, Myanmar, Entrance door of Htilominlo Temple.jpg, Doorway to a temple
File:Ananda Buddha, Bagan, Myanmar.jpg, One of the main four Buddha statutes inside the Ananda
File:Ananda-Bagan-Myanmar-25-gje.jpg, A hallway inside the Ananda
File:Htilominlo-Bagan-Myanmar-23-Buddha-gje.jpg, Inside the Htilominlo
Htilominlo ( my, ထီးလိုမင်းလို, ; also called Nadaungmya or Zeya Theinkha Uzana; 1175 – 1235) was king of Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1211 to 1235. His 24-year reign marked the beginning of the gradual declin ...
File:BAGAN INTERIOR DE LA PAGODA DE LOS FRESCOS.jpg, Frescoes inside a temple
File:Dhammayangyi-Bagan-Myanmar-12-gje.jpg, Buddha statutes inside the Dhammayangyi
File:Manuha-Bagan-Myanmar-17-gje.jpg, Inside the Manuha Temple
Manuha Temple ( my, မနူဟာဘုရား) is a Buddhist temple built in Myinkaba (located near Bagan), by captive Mon King Manuha in 1067, according to King Manuha's inscriptions. It is a rectangular building of two storeys. The buildi ...
See also
* Buddhism in Myanmar
Buddhism ( my, ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ), specifically Theravāda Buddhism ( my, ထေရဝါဒဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ), is the State religion of Myanmar since 1961, and practiced by nearly 90% of the population. It is the most rel ...
* Burmese pagoda
Burmese pagodas are stupas that typically house Buddhist relics, including relics associated with Buddha. Pagodas feature prominently in Myanmar's landscape, earning the country the moniker "land of pagodas." According to 2016 statistics compiled ...
* Pagoda festival
Pagoda festivals ( my, ဘုရားပွဲ; ''paya pwe'') are regular festivals found throughout Burma (Myanmar) that commemorate major religious events in pagoda's history, including the founding of a pagoda and the crowning of the pagoda's ...
* Index of Buddhism-related articles
0–9
* 22 Vows of Ambedkar
A
* Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery
* Abhayamudra
* Abhibhavayatana
* Abhidhajamahāraṭṭhaguru
* Abhidhamma
* Abhidhamma Pitaka
* Abhijatabhivamsa
* Abhijna
* Acala
* Acariya
* Access to Insight
* Achar (Budd ...
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Rao, Vinay Kumar. “Buddhist Art of Pagan, 2 Vols.” Published by Agam Kala Publications, New Delhi, 2011. .
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Bagan Map
DPS Online Maps.
Bagan Travel Guide
All about Bagan (english version)
Charles Duroiselle, ''Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report'', Delhi, 1913–14
Dr. Richard M. Cooler, Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...
Asian Historical Architecture: Bagan
Prof. Robert D. Fiala, Concordia University, Nebraska
Concordia University, Nebraska is a private Lutheran university in Seward, Nebraska. It was established in 1894 and is affiliated with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod as one of seven schools in the Concordia University System. The universit ...
Buddhist Architecture at Bagan
Bob Hudson, University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
, Australia
* Photographs of temples and paintings of Baga
Part 1
an
Bagan moving postcards
{{Authority control
Township capitals of Myanmar
9th-century establishments in Asia
Populated places established in the 9th century
Pagan Kingdom
Buddhist temples in Myanmar
Populated places in Mandalay Region
Buddhist pilgrimage sites in Myanmar
Buddhist art
Tourist attractions in Myanmar
World Heritage Sites in Myanmar