Pagan Kingdom Reaches Peak Temple Construction

1095

Under successive kings following Anawrahta's legacy, the Pagan kingdom's religious construction reached a crescendo. The Shwezigon Pagoda - begun by Anawrahta and completed by his son Kyanzittha - rose as the kingdom's crowning Buddhist monument, its golden stupa visible for miles across the Irrawaddy plain. The pagoda's design synthesized Mon, Indian, and Burmese traditions into a form that would become the prototype for Burmese pagoda architecture for centuries to come.