Shwedagon Pagoda

Shwedagon is the most sacred Buddhist site in Myanmar. Its gilded stupa rises 99 m from the top of Singuttara Hill, or 112 m including its crown, so it can be seen from much of Yangon.

Tradition says the pagoda is about 2,600 years old. Two merchant brothers, Tapussa and Bhallika, met the Buddha and received eight strands of his hair. They brought them to King Okkalapa of Dagon, who enshrined them on the hill where relics of three earlier Buddhas were believed to lie.

The first stupa was small. Kings and queens rebuilt and enlarged it over the centuries, and today it is covered in gold plates. Its crown is set with 5,448 diamonds and 2,317 rubies and tipped with a 76-carat diamond.

Visiting

Four covered stairways lead up to the platform, one from each direction, each guarded by a pair of giant chinthe (lion figures). Walk around the stupa clockwise, as locals do. Each weekday has its own planetary post, where people pour water over a Buddha image for the day of the week they were born.

Come in the early morning or from late afternoon. At midday the marble floor gets too hot for bare feet. At sunset the stupa turns from gold to amber, and the lamps come on as the evening crowds arrive.