The stupas, pagodas and temples of Bagan are a sight to see.
When the sun begins to say goodbye behind the mountains that escort the west bank of the great Ayeyarwady River, the stupas, pagodas and temples of imperial Bagan they shimmer in shades of gold, first, and oranges and violets later. Your traveler's heart shrinks before such a beautiful spectacle.
The Cambodian archaeological complex of Angkor Wat He has a brother, and not exactly younger, in myanmar.
In the 9th century the city of Bagan was founded . Its location was the result of tactical planning. The Ayeyarwady River – also known as Irrawaddy, the longest in Myanmar with its 2,200 km extension – acted as a border and protective barrier against possible enemies in the west, while the mountains guarded the eastern flank of a plain of fertile land.
The Ayeyarwady or Irrawady River is the longest in Myanmar.
The population, agriculture, commerce and military power of Bagan flourished unhindered, until the coming to power, in the year 1044 , of the great King Anawrahta meant the achievement of higher goals. The He is considered the father of the great Burmese Empire.
Anawrahta began to take an interest in the buddhism practiced in the neighbors Mon lands , an ethnic group that still exists in present-day Myanmar. After King Mon's refusal of the request of the cession of monks and buddhist scriptures by Anawrahta, the burmese king raided the foreign kingdom and took the religious loot he craved by force.
Anawrahta thus began the history of Buddhism - of the Theravada branch - in Burma . It was he who ordered the construction of the first pagodas in bagan . Some of them were really splendid - like the one in Shwezigon , whose magnificent gold-covered stupa still shines and is one of the most visited today - but his successors managed to surpass him.
The fever of building stupas, pagodas and temples did not stop until the decline of Bagan's power, at the end of the 13th century, when the Mongols conquered the area. However, by then the architectural and historical legacy left behind was already immense. Of the more than 10,000 stupas, pagodas and temples that were built between the 10th and 13th centuries in Bagan, some 3,700 can be seen today in an area of just 42 square kilometers. . And, thanks to the work of archaeologists, the account is increasing every year.
The Shwezigon pagoda is one of the most visited today.
When you arrive in Bagan you have the feeling of having appeared on a movie set and you look in your backpack for the Indiana Jones clothes. Everywhere you look, you always find a pagoda (the best and most general way to unify the concepts of stupa, temple and pagoda), and none is the same as another. You could spend months exploring the roads of Bagan and you would not cease to be amazed.
If you hire the services of a good guide, he will show you the most important and imposing monuments. The ideal is to make a route in which you can appreciate the differences that occur in the construction of pagodas over the years. The first were stupas, solid interior, which could not be entered . Then they began to arrive temples, hollow inside and with one or two entrances . Lastly, the four entrance temples – with a Buddha statue blessing each of them – would become the general trend.
The pagodas are the main tourist attraction in Bagan.
Also they materials (increasingly resistant to the frequent earthquakes that devastate the area), the windows , the kind of natural lighting , the styling and size of the buddha statues , and the magnificent frescoes, stucco and other ornamentation , would vary over time.
The glittering gold of Shwezigon Stupa ; the imposing indian styling and the huge ananda buddha statues ; the precious ones frescoes narrating the life of Buddha in Gubyaukgyi ; either the macabre history surrounding the Dhammayangyi temple , built by order of King Narathu, who came to power after murdering his father and brother. All this is part of the magic of a place that is among the most beautiful works of man.
Such is the beauty of Bagan, that the only reason it was not declared Heritage of humanity by unesco it is the arbitrary reconstruction that the Department of Archeology of Myanmar has been carrying out for decades. Fortunately, this has changed and the Burmese are hopeful that they can claim that prestigious title.
But beyond the great important temples, the true exotic beauty of Bagan lies in the thousands of other unknown pagodas.
All the pagodas hide impressive statues of Buddha.
A tangle of dirt roads invites you to get lost in the dense vegetation to discover these magnificent red brick buildings. Some imposing and proud; others partially collapsed or almost covered by vegetation; the most, with its original dirt floor. The Buddha statues welcome you with that calm that emanates, as if you were the first to be welcomed after centuries of waiting. You feel special. And you are. You are alone – because Bagan has that unique gift of making you alone as soon as you stray a few meters from the tourist route – exploring the remains of an empire that left behind an unrivaled religious and monumental legacy.
The best way to explore the arteries of that living body that is Bagan is in electric motorcycle , but bicycle, horse carriage (and even oxen) or tuk tuk They are also part of the range of possibilities.
When sunset approaches, seek advice from the friendly locals and let them show you some of the temples you can still climb . Until January 2018, there were many - highlighting Shwesandaw above all of them - but a new law banned them all. Now, the "affordable" temples are changing from time to time and only local people can help you find them.
Find one where there are not many people. Go up the interior stairs and sit on those bricks that hide centuries of history. Be quiet, close your eyes and listen to the sounds of the countryside at sunset. When you open them, you will have before you one of the most spectacular sunsets that you will be able to contemplate in your life. Bagan will seem to burn in flames, with that layer of green vegetation interrupted by red dirt roads and the stupas that crown these temple-shaped witnesses to the greatness of a long-forgotten empire..
The landscape of the Shwesandaw temple at sunset offers one of the best views.