Pagan Kingdom Builds Thousands of Buddhist Temples

1083

The plain of Pagan entered its great age of construction, as successive kings and wealthy donors raised thousands of Buddhist temples, stupas, and monasteries across the Irrawaddy floodplain. Mon artisans captured from Thaton brought their techniques north - stucco decoration, Jataka murals, terracotta plaques - creating a hybrid aesthetic that was neither purely Burmese nor Mon but something magnificently new. At its peak, the temple-studded skyline held over four thousand structures.