Myanmar (Burma): The Temples of Bagan

Destination: Bagan, Myanmar (Burma)

Travel guidebook summary

Located in central Myanmar (Burma), Bagan is one of the most magnificent and inspiring sites in Southeast Asia. With over 3,200 temples and stupas dotting its landscape, this ancient Buddhist capital provides travelers a unique opportunity to explore the evolution of Bagan’s art and architecture.

See full description

Buy for Amazon Kindle

Buy on Apple iBookstore

See all Southeast Asia travel guides

* Guidebooks run on all digital devices and are delivered in ebook format.

These are affiliate links; as an Amazon Associate and Apple partner, Approach Guides makes a commission from qualifying purchases.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Wonderful guide
I bought this guide hoping to learn more about the Bagan temples. stupas and pagodas I’d seen on a recent trip to Myanmar (Burma). This guide totally delivers what a traveler needs with descriptions, maps, and photos of the period styles and “best of” temples and stupas one might be lucky enough to see in this area of more than 2000 structures. Best of all, it’s digital so it’s easy to load and carry along when visiting this magical site. Yes, I’m planning to return come winter with the guide and flashlight. I had no idea guides like this were available.
Terrific resource!

See more customer reviews on Amazon

Message from the author

“Bagan ranks as one of my favorite sites, not only for its enormous scale, but also for the breadth — spanning architecture, painting and sculpture — of its artistic treasures. Faced with the daunting task of profiling the ancient city, we focused on laying out the high level themes that travelers will encounter again and again on their tours and creating detailed itineraries that would help them focus on the absolute must-sees.”

David Raezer | Founder & Author, Approach Guides

Bagan, Myanmar: About this Guide

Guidebook screenshots

Invaluable insights

Richly detailed with powerful images

Historical context

In-depth and engaging information

Read on all digital devices

Travel information at your fingertips

Guidebook details

Guidebook Description

Bagan, the ancient Buddhist capital in central Myanmar (Burma) that thrived from 850-1300, is one of the most magnificent and inspiring sites in Southeast Asia. It is yours to uncover.

What’s in this guidebook

Comprehensive look at Bagan’s art and architecture. We provide an overview of Bagan’s art and architecture, laying out the two types of religious structures (temples and stupas) and the art forms used to decorate them (paintings and sculpture). To make things come alive, we have packed our review with high-resolution images.
A tour that goes deeper on the most important sites. Following our tradition of being the most valuable resource for culture-focused travelers, we offer a detailed tour of twenty-one of the premier sites. For each, we present information on its history, a detailed plan that highlights its most important architectural and artistic features, high-resolution images and a discussion that ties it all together.
Advice for getting the best cultural experience. To help you plan your visit, this guidebook supplies logistical advice, maps and links to online resources. Plus, we give our personal tips for getting the most from your experience while on location.
Information the way you like it. As with all of our guides, this book is optimized for intuitive, quick navigation; information is organized into bullet points to make absorption easy; and images are marked up with text that explains important features.

Table of Contents

Introduction

BAGAN’S ART AND ARCHITECTURE

Temple Architecture

Temple Layouts

Superstructures

Structural Features

External Decoration

Stupa Architecture

Stupa Features

Decoration

Painting

Styles

Buddha Images and Stories

Sculpture

Primary Buddhas

Secondary Buddhas

The Buddha’s Mudras

MAP AND TOUR ITINERARY

Map of Bagan

Touring Itinerary

Temple and Stupa Profiles

Ananda *
Apeyadana
Dhammayangyi
Dhammayazika *
Gawdawpalin
Gubyaukgyi * (near village of Myinkaba)
Gubyaukgyi * (near village of Wetkyi-in)
Lawkananda
Lokateikpan
Mingalazedi
Nagayon *
Nandamanya *
Nanpaya *
Natlaungkyaung
Pahtothamya *
Payathonzu *
Shwesandaw *
Shwezigon *
Sulamani *
Thambulla *
Thatbyinnyu

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Bagan King List – Chronology

What’s Going On In the Rest of the World

Going to Thailand or Cambodia?

Our Recommendations

Where to Stay, Eat and Shop

Packing List

About Approach Guides

Additional Info

Site map