Bagan is an ancient city located in the Mandalay Region of Burma.
From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Kingdom
of Pagan, the first kingdom to unify the regions that would later
constitute modern Myanmar. There are about 2,000 of them covering an area of 16 square miles on the eastern bank of the Ayeyarwady in central Myanmar. They are in different sizes and in a bewildering variety of shapes. They are also in varying stages of preservation and disrepair. Some of them throb with life, visited by devotees, a few have become little more than piles of bricks.
Tradition has it that Bagan was founded by Thamoddarit in the early 2nd century. But perhaps it would be better to date the Bagan of the monuments from its establishment as a walled city, with twelve gates and a moat, by King Pyinbya in 849. Bagan became a central powerbase in the mid 9th century under King Anawrahta, who unified Burma under Theravada Buddhism.
Most of ancient Myanmar paintings were found in the vicinity of Bagan, where pagodas, monasteries, ordination halls are situated much more than in other regions in Myanmar. The later devout donors were fortunate enough to appreciate Bagan paintings because of the fervor and profound faith of the several monarchs of Inwa and Konbaung Dynasties who came to Bagan and donated their religious merits though the Bagan Capital has perished.
ancient city of Bagan, Myanmar
