Mingun Myanmar
Myanmar
Frequently Asked Questions
By river from Mandalay: an hour's sailing upstream, past fishing canoes, overloaded ferries and sandbanks where nets dry. Boats land directly against the bank via a wooden gangway.
An unfinished stupa meant to become the largest in the world. King Bodawpaya began it in 1790 and it was never completed; what remains is a colossal brick base, split from top to bottom.
A prophecy held that the king would die on the day the monument was completed. Work slowed, then stopped for good when he died.
From the great earthquake of 1839, which split the colossal base with wide fissures still visible today. The unfinished, broken state is precisely what gives the place its power.
A bell of roughly 90 tonnes of bronze, cast by Bodawpaya for his stupa and among the largest in the world still able to ring. Visitors slip under its rim to feel its thickness.
An all-white pagoda recognisable by its seven wavy terraces, representing the seas and mountain ranges around Mount Meru. King Bagyidaw built it in 1816 in memory of his wife, who died in childbirth.
Yes, you go up terrace by terrace between the whitewashed waves to a platform overlooking the village, the palm trees and the brown ribbon of the Ayeyarwady.
Two to three hours is enough: the three great monuments follow one another along the main path, a few minutes' walk apart.
Two colossal brick lions, gutted by time, still guarding the old royal landing stage. They once gave the scale of the kingdom's most extravagant project.
Yes, walk a few streets away. The village lives off the river: stilt houses, wood carvers, longyi stalls, ox taxis in the shade of the tamarinds and tea houses serving sweet milk tea on tiny stools.
