Kyauktawgyi Buddha Temple ( my, ကျောက်တော်ကြီးဘုရား; also known as the Great Marble Image) is a well-known Buddhist temple located near the southern entry to

Mandalay Hill Mandalay Hill ( ) is a hill that is located to the northeast of the city centre of Mandalay in Myanmar. The city took its name from the hill. Mandalay Hill is known for its abundance of pagodas and monasteries, and has been a major pilgrimage s ...

, Myanmar, opposite the northeastern corner of the Mandalay moat. The image of the Buddha is officially known as Maha Thetkya Mayazein ( my, မဟာသကျမာရဇိန်; pi, Mahāsakyamārajina). Construction began in 1853 under the patronage of King

Mindon Min Mindon Min ( my, မင်းတုန်းမင်း, ; 1808 – 1878), born Maung Lwin, was the penultimate King of Burma (Myanmar) from 1853 to 1878. He was one of the most popular and revered kings of Burma. Under his half brother King Pa ...

, but the site was not completed until 1878 because of internal discord in the mid-1860s, including a palace rebellion. The temple was initially modelled after the Ananda Temple in

Bagan Bagan (, ; formerly Pagan) is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Bagan Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that wou ...

, but the completed temple does not resemble the former. The Kyauktawgyi Buddha is a huge sculpted image of the Buddha seated in the Bhūmipassa Mudrā (). The figure was sculpted from a single block of pale green

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

quarried at Sagyin, north of Mandalay. The stone block was transported over the course of 13 days, requiring the manpower of 10,000 to 12,000 men, to the temple site, where it was carved. The image was consecrated in 1865. A

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 ...

is annually held at Kyauktawgyi Buddha Temple in October.

References

{{Buddhist sites in Myanmar Buddhist temples in Mandalay 19th-century Buddhist temples