!!!Shwedagon Pagoda

by Stanislav Sedov and
Dmitry Moiseenko,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

12 October 2012

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

Myanmar is one of the most mysterious countries in the world. It borders
India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand. Each of these destinations
(except, perhaps, for Bangladesh) is full of tourists. But Myanmar
remains outside of usual tourist routes. There are no direct flights
from Russia, visa to Myanmar is not the easiest one to get, not to
mention that it's not really advertised by travel agencies. This is why
this amazing destination remains unknown to the world.

To say that one misses a lot by not going there is an understatement
(you'll understand why when you see our panoramas). This country with a
century-old history has preserved countless of monuments and it is
rightfully called the "Golden Country" or "The Land of Golden Pagodas".
There are around 2500 pagodas there. In fact, the entire country is one
huge archaeological reserve, which preserves heritage of ancient
civilizations.

[{Image src='01_Shwedagon Pagoda at dusk.jpg' caption='Shwedagon Pagoda at dusk' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='349'}]

Of course, it's impossible to describe thousands of pagodas and other
Myanmar landmarks in just one article and to show all of them in one
panorama cycle. So we're planning to tell you only about the most
outstanding monument, the Shwedagon Pagoda (stupa).

Stupa is a dome symbolizing Buddha's teachings. Usually stupas serve as
Buddhist shrines and repositories of sacred Buddhist texts. Some stupas
conceal different vessels with Buddha's pieces of clothing or his hairs.
Stupas are topped with spires that look like umbrellas, a symbol of
protection from the rays of ignorance. Bells are hanging on the stupas
to express the symbol of doing some good things.

The capital of Myanmar, Yangon (Rangoon) is known for the most famous
stupa in the country, the Shwedagon Pagoda, along with a temple complex
around it. These constructions are a couple thousand years older than
the city itself. The name comes from «Shwe» (Burmese for "gold") and
«Dagon» (previously this settlement was situated where the modern Yangon
now exists).

[{Image src='02_Shwedagon Pagoda, closeup.jpg' caption='Shwedagon Pagoda, closeup' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='678'}]

According to the mystical yet forgotten legend, in ancient times this
was the place where relics of three predecessors of Buddha were kept:
the staff of Kakusandhi, the water filter of Konagamana, and a piece of
tunic of Kassapa.

One day unknown brothers took a few hairs of Buddha from India, but
during the trip they were attacked and robbed several times. However,
they were able to deliver part of the sacred treasure — they brought
eight hairs of Buddhism founder to Myanmar.

A grand festivity was held to celebrate this event. Lord Sakka and four
spirits descended from heavens to choose a worthy place to store
Buddha's hairs. They helped to discover three forgotten sacred places,
and, as a result, it was decided to keep all sacred objects together
with proper honors.

Thus, Shwedagon is the only temple in the world which holds four
Buddhist relics of such high value. Furthermore, it's one of the few
structures created during the life of Buddha.

It was built with great care and thoroughness by ancient Burmese. They
dug a hole on a hill near Dagon, built a tomb, and covered it with a
golden plate. Several stupas made from different materials were erected
on top of it one by one: golden, silver, tin, copper, lead, marble,
iron, and brick.

[{Image src='03_Shwedagon Pagoda.jpg' caption='Shwedagon Pagoda' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='675'}]

The Shwedagon Pagoda reached its current height only in 1774. After
being rebuilt several times by King Hsinbyushin, it reached the height
of 99 meters above the plate. At the same time the Shwedagon Pagoda
started looking the way it looks now.

All sixty-eight surrounding stupas are gilded, while the Shwedagon
itself is sheathed with golden plates from top to bottom. 8000 gold
plates, 5000 diamonds, 2000 gem stones and semiprecious stones were used
to decorate the main pagoda.

So it's not surprising that the stupa was repeatedly plundered over the
years, and some parts, like three hundred years old bell encrusted with
jewels, are now lost. However, the Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar has
survived to see our days in its full glory.

There are bells hanging along the perimeter of the temple complex with
wooden mallets lying nearby. It is believed that if you make a wish and
hit the bell three times it will come true. So here and there you can
always hear a bell's ringing in the distance.

This Myanmar landmark represents this country like the Moscow Kremlin
represents Russia, or Mount Fuji represets Japan. The Shwedagon temple
complex is one of the largest architectural ensembles not only in
Myanmar, but in all of Southeast Asia. You can always see the golden
cone of the central stupa dozens of kilometers away from Yangon, both
from sea and land.

[{Image src='04_Planet of Shwedagon.jpg' caption='Planet of Shwedagon' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='675'}]

In order to get to the pagoda you have to climb the highest hill. But
modern technologies made this task a lot easier: an escalator can take
you to the Scwedagon. And for those of you who are thousands miles away
from this amazing monument, there is a perfect opportunity to see it
from the height of our panoramas.

\\ \\
[17 Panoramas of Shwedagon Pagoda|Geography/Asia/Burma/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Shwedagon_Pagoda]










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