Overall view of the main hall of the Shwe Nandaw Kuaung
South of the Kuthodaw Pagoda and east of the Fort stands one of the few original buildings of the Royal Palace to remain intact. The Shwe Nandaw Kyaung was the building in which King Mindon died. After the King's death, his son and successor Thibaw moved the building to its present location.
One of the altars in the Shwe Nandaw Kyaung
King Thibaw used the building for meditation for a short time, but later, in 1879, donated it to monks for use as a monastery. The building is almost entirely constructed of intricately carved teak, which was once completely gilded inside and out, as was almost all of King Mindon's Golden City. The outer guilding is now mostly washed away, and the untreated teak is darkly tanned by the sun.
A bit of the elaborately carved roof decorations
However, much of the gilding still remains inside, and although the building is really rather small, it's quite easy to spend an hour or more examining the finely detailed carvings that cover every inch of the interior.