Schwedagon PagodaRangoon (Yangon), Myanmar (Burma), 14th century or earlierMyanmar, like Thaila
Schwedagon PagodaRangoon (Yangon), Myanmar (Burma), 14th century or earlierMyanmar, like Thailand, is overwhelmingly a Theravada Buddhist country today. Important Buddhist monasteries and monuments dot the countryside. In Rangoon, an enormous complex of buildings, including shrines filled with Buddha images, has as its centerpiece one of the largest stupas in the world, the Schwedagon Pagoda. (Pagoda derives from the Portuguese version of a word for stupa.)(read more now does not work here) The Rangoon pagoda houses two of the Buddha’s hairs, traditionally said to have been brought to Myanmar by merchants who received them from the Buddha himself. Rebuilt several times, this highly revered stupa is famous for the gold, silver, and jewels encrusting its surface. The Schwedagon Pagoda stands 344 feet high. Covering its upper part are 13,153 plates of gold, each about a foot square. At the very top is a seven-tiered umbrella crowned with a gold ball inlaid with 4,351 diamonds, one of which weighs 76 carats. This great wealth was a gift to the Buddha from the laypeople of Myanmar to produce merit. (x) -- source link
#art history#architecture#myanmar#buddhist stupa#art piece