Mandalay Fort

One of the guardhouses of the outer wall

At the center of his "Golden City" King Mindon put himself, naturally. At the foot of Mandalay Hill he built a perfectly square walled enclosure, and surrounded it with a wide moat. The nearly 2 kilometer long sides each face a cardinal direction. Inside, at the very center of the square, stood the Royal Palace. Above the throne room of the palace rose a seven tiered golden roof meant to focus the wisdom of the universe directly onto the king on his throne.

When the British annexed Upper Burma in 1885, the Royal Palace became barracks and was renamed Fort Dufferin. Unfortunately, at the end of World War II, the British shelled the fort to force out the small group of Japanese and local soldiers that held it, and in the process destroyed all of the wooden buildings of King Mindon's palace.

The main palace buildings were rebuilt and are now open to the public, although much of the fort remains the property of the army.

In this section

Mandalay Royal Palace

Some of the court buildings. At the center of the Mandalay royal city was the Royal Palace, raised on a platform to be above all the rest of the houses. The palace itself had apartments for 140 members of the king's immediate family. At the front of the palace was the throne room, containing the elaborate Lion Throne, now on display in the national museum in Yangon. Above the throne room rises a seven tiered gilded roof.