Kuthodaw Pagoda, Buddhist stupa in Mandalay, Myanmar
The Kuthodaw Pagoda features a gilded stupa at its center surrounded by hundreds of white marble shrines, each containing inscribed stone tablets. These shrines are arranged in organized rows forming a vast sacred compound around the main structure.
King Mindon Min ordered construction of this religious complex in 1857 as part of his plan for a new royal capital in Mandalay. The project represented an ambitious effort to preserve Buddhist teachings on stone for eternity.
The marble tablets here preserve the complete Buddhist Tipitaka written in Burmese script. You can see how these stone records have kept the teachings of Buddha documented for future generations.
This site can be visited throughout the day and sits near other important locations like Mandalay Palace. It helps to visit early in the morning when temperatures are cooler and the site feels less crowded.
Each of the hundreds of marble tablets stands taller than 5 feet and bears Buddhist texts on both sides, originally written with golden ink. These massive stone tablets make this one of the world's largest open-air religious text repositories.
Location: Mandalay
Inception: 1872
Creator: Mindon Min
GPS coordinates: 22.00460,96.11280
Latest update: December 6, 2025 16:02
Myanmar offers photographers an exceptional range of subjects, from ancient temple complexes to natural landscapes. The archaeological zone of Bagan, with more than 2,000 pagodas and temples spread across 40 square miles (104 square kilometers), ranks among Southeast Asia's most significant historical sites. The golden Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, its central stupa rising 325 feet (99 meters), dominates the skyline of the former capital. At Inle Lake, photographers document the daily life of locals who propel their boats with a distinctive leg-rowing technique, along with floating gardens and villages built on stilts. The country's temple architecture appears in various forms: the white Ananda Temple in Bagan from the 11th century, the Kuthodaw Pagoda in Mandalay with its 729 marble slabs inscribed with Buddhist texts, or the 2,478 stupas at Kakku in Shan State. U Bein Bridge near Amarapura, a 0.75-mile (1.2-kilometer) teak bridge built in 1850, draws photographers especially at sunrise and sunset. Natural formations such as the limestone caves at Pindaya containing thousands of Buddha statues, or the Golden Rock at Kyaiktiyo appearing to balance on a cliff edge, expand the photographic possibilities. Beyond the well-known sites, other compelling subjects emerge: the colonial character of Mawlamyaing, the limestone mountains around Hpa-an, the 2,417-foot (737-meter) Mount Popa with its monastery atop a volcanic plug, or Gokteik Viaduct, a 2,260-foot (689-meter) railway bridge from the British colonial period. The 590-foot (180-meter) reclining Buddha statue Win Sein Taw Ya near Mawlamyaing and the monumental Buddha statues at Monywa demonstrate the scale of religious art in the country. The beaches at Ngapali on the west coast provide contrast to the cultural and historical sites in the interior.
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