Bagan Monastery Myanmar Monasteries

Bagan Monastery Myanmar monasteries

The numerous monastic complexes

are a remarkable side of the architecture at Bagan, typical is the monastery at Sale, a great wood construction.

Since not all monasteries have enough funds available to build a temple there are various possibilities. A simple monastery consists of only one house in which the monks live, depending on the wealth, donations and importance of the monastery certain buildings are added such as stupas, temples, libraries and more. A more advanced complex has its own well and his pond in a shady grove.

Until the late 12th and earlier 13th Century warden apparently all monasteries (with the exception of the temples and stupas) have been made from wood. At the end of the 13th Century the first living quarters were made of bricks.

Among the most interesting monastery Bagan's

is the Thamani between the Tiripassaya village and Dutekan. One of the two-storey buildings consisted of two halls of 100 and

165 sqm. These halls were used as a school to teach the novices. The setting of building at the monastery compound is always somehow geometric. The center is a square and the buildings are built around. or rectangle. At the monastery is the center of this rectangular always free, and the buildings are located on the periphery.

Sale is about 50km

south of Bagan, and it is believed that when King Anawrahta (1044-1077) returned from Thaton in 1057 with the Buddhist texts, he was welcomed back at Sale by his family and officials of his court.

The texts were escorted by a thousand monks and carried on the back of 32 elephants.

Bagan Monastery Sale

The growth of monasteries

needed to extend the fenced area, usually cubic formed buildings of 10 to 15 m length and width have been constructed. Outside the main monastery area residential living quarters for pilgrims and water reservoirs were constructed. On one side, usually the

eastern, the buildings always had a niche for Buddha statues.

All monasteries in the area are somehow of Indian style, in fact the old name is Kula clone means "Indian monastery." That indicates their origin and their structure since Buddhism come from India, and with them the construction of monasteries.

Tripitaka Chest

Bagan Monastery Hall

Most famous monasteries

have a wooden architecture and the interior is rich decorated with woodcarvings. Not only until recently brick and concrete took over. This is also one of the reasons why plenty buildings of the past are since from time to time major fires destroyed them sometimes initiated by an earthquake.

Woodcarvings are not only used to create a great Buddha statue, they also function decorative, even utensils, wagons or boats are often richly carved rich. Most wood used for those purposes was teak (Pinkado), walls were made of bamboo or palm leave mats for natural ventilation. Constructions made of bamboo and palm leaves do not take much moisture and staking them off easily.

Despite the important position held by the wooden structures not much is known about them because of frequent destruction an exception was the Mandalay Palace, but it got a hit from a Japanese bomb during WW2 and completely burned down. It took until the end of the 198X to have the palace rebuilt, it’s a very impressive structure everyone can visit in Mandalay, there rae also several teak monasteries in the city.

Bagan Monastery Myanmar monasteries