High medieval · Buddhist · Myanmar

Ananda Temple, Bagan

Bagan, Mandalay Region · 21.1717°, 94.8677°

Four standing BuddhasPaganMon–Bamar gu templeUNESCO World Heritage

Sacred since

1105 CE

first attestation / structure

Standing structure

completed c. 1105

patron: King Kyanzittha

History & significance

The masterpiece among Bagan's 3,500+ monuments — a whitewashed Greek-cross temple crowned with a gilded sikhara, holding four 9.5 m standing Buddhas of the present aeon. The Kassapa image's smile changes with the viewer's distance — grave up close, radiant from afar. Restored with Indian ASI collaboration after the 2016 earthquake; Bagan entered the UNESCO list in 2019.

Sthala katha — the legend

Eight monks from India described to Kyanzittha the Himalayan cave-temple of Nandamula; entranced, he built its likeness — then, the chronicle says, had the architect killed so it could never be duplicated: Bagan's dark parable of singular beauty.

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