A monk praying inside a pagoda in Bagan, Myanmar 21 Jan 2017
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A monk kneels at the foot of a Buddha statue, praying, in one of the many pagodas in Bagan, Myanmar. More than 10,000 temples and pagodas were built between the 11th and 13th centuries throughout this ancient city. Only around 2,200 of them still stand in various states of repair: some are well maintained while others are overgrown with vegetation. Pagodas are tiered structures, originally built to house the remains of the Buddha, Sakyamuni (the first teacher of Buddhism).
Pagodas are now built to house other sacred relics and tombs. Bagan has the highest density of temples and pagodas in the world and it is across these plains the development of architecture and design can be seen, dating back as early as the 3rd Century. Visit the ancient city on Insight Guides’ Myanmar Highlights trip.
