Mandalay Hotels
Hotels in Mandalay are often required for tourists who require short term accommodation. Some tourists may want to stay at hotels which reflect Mandalay culture. Some may want to stay at large hotels or small hotels. Some may want to stay at a cheap hotel or luxury hotels. Some may want to stay at hotels with good parking facilities. Some may want to stay at well known hotels with good reputation and good access to culture and to scenery.
Hotels in Mandalay are often needed for tourists who need a place to stay while they visit the city.
Mandalay is the second largest city and the last royal capital of Burma (Myanmar), and is the economic and cultural hub of Upper Burma. The city, located 445 miles north of Yangon on the right bank of the Irrawaddy river.
Founded in 1857 by King Mindon, Mandalay was the last capital (1860–1885) of the last independent Burmese Kingdom before colonised by the British after the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885.
Unlike other Burmese towns, Mandalay did not grow from a smaller settlement, although a small village Hti Baunga did exist nearby. Mandalay was set up in an empty area at the foot of 775 ft high (236 m) Mandalay Hill according to a prophecy by the Buddha that a great city, a metropolis of Buddhism, would come into existence in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.
King Mindon decided to fulfill the prophecy and during his reign in the Kingdom of Amarapura he issued a royal order on January 13, 1857 to establish a new kingdom. The Ceremony of Ascending the Throne was celebrated in July 1858. The former royal city of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill. With the ground-breaking ceremony, King Mindon laid the foundation of Mandalay on the 6th waning day of Kason, Burmese Era 1219 (1857). The King laid the foundations of seven edifices: the royal city with the battlemented walls, the moat surrounding it, the Maha Lawka Marazein Stupa (Kuthodaw Pagoda), the higher ordination hall named the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein, the Atumashi (Incomparable) monastery, the Thudhamma Zayats or public houses for preaching the Doctrine, and the library for the Buddhist scriptures.
The whole royal city was called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (Victorious Land over the Four Islands) and the royal palace, Mya Nan San Kyaw (The Famed Royal Emerald Palace). The new royal capital was called Yadanabon Naypyidaw, the Burmese version of its Pali name Ratanapura which means "The City of Gems". It then became Mandalay after the hill; the name is a derivative of the Pali word "Mandala", which means "a plains land" - Mandalay is said to be as flat as the face of a drum - and also of the Pali word "Mandare", which means "an auspicious land."
Mandalay was captured by the British during the Third Anglo-Burmese War (1885). Reigning King Thibaw and his queen, Supayalat, were forced to evacuate the palace and eventually exiled to India. Renamed Fort Dufferin, the palace was used as the quarter of British and Indian troops, and many of its fabulous treasures were looted. Some of the best pieces were sent back to Great Britain and can still be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Cityscape
Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.
Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labour. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.
Shwenandaw Monastery:
Famous for its intricate wood-carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of
the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved
to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.
Maha Muni Pagoda: The Image is
said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha
embraced it 7 times thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists
hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Maha Muni Sacred Living Image. Revered
as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The
image in a sitting posture is 12 feet and 7 inches (3.8 m) high. As the image
was brought from Rakhine State it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The
early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of
devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest, next to
the Shwedagon Pagoda, in Burma. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit
to Maha Muni Pagoda.
Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Buddhist Scriptures as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist Synod. It is popularly known as "the World's Biggest Book" for its stone scriptures.
Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha Image built by King Mindon in 1853-78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 Arahats (the Great Disciples of the Buddha) are assembled around the Image, 20 on each side. The carving of the Image was completed in 1865.
Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the Burmese military government. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13th, December, 1996.
Atumashi Kyaung: The " Atumashi Kyaung ", which literally means the inimitable monastery, is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2nd May, 1995 and completed in June, 1996.
Mandalay is Burma's cultural and religious center
of Buddhism, having numerous monasteries and more than 700 pagodas.
Mandalay Hotels
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