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25-448: The reconstructed palace does not contain much of the original furniture and personal items used by the royals, as most of it was lost when the palace was looted and destroyed in 1599. There are several reproductions on display, like a replica of the king’s golden coach, decorated with two peacocks and a Pyatthat style roof. The palace dates from a very prosperous time in Burmese history. It

50-451: A collection of 16th-century Buddha images in Mon, Siamese and Burmese styles from the palace. 17°19′50″N 96°29′35″E  /  17.3306°N 96.4930°E  / 17.3306; 96.4930 Pyatthat Pyatthat ( Burmese : ပြာသာဒ် , IPA: [pjaʔθaʔ] ; from Sanskrit prāsāda ; Mon : တန်ဆံၚ် IPA: [tan.cʰi̤ŋ] ; also spelt pyathat ) is the name of

75-494: A multistaged roof, with an odd number of tiers (from three to seven). The pyatthat is commonly incorporated into Burmese Buddhist and royal architecture (e.g., kyaungs , palace buildings, pagodas) and towers above the image of the Buddha or other sacred places (e.g., royal thrones and city gates). The pyatthat is made of successive gabled rectangular roofs in an exaggerated pyramidal shape, with an intervening box-like structure called

100-527: Is an auspicious symbol in Buddhism and Hinduism. In pre-colonial Burma, the hti was an indicator of social status and used exclusively by those who were granted express permission to do so. The royal white umbrella or hti phyu taw ( ထီးဖြူတော် ) was one of the five articles of coronation regalia ( မင်းမြောက်တန်ဆာ , Min Mhyauk Tanza ). Use and possession of a royal white umbrella was limited exclusively to

125-630: Is called the seinhpudaw ( စိန်ဖူးတော် ; lit. "esteemed diamond bud"). Hti have been found on pagodas constructed by all four of the pagoda building ethnic groups of Myanmar: the Mon , the Bamar (Burmans), the Rakhine (Arakanese) and the Shan . The hti is considered the most important part of the pagoda. A special ceremony being held for the placing of the hti on the pagoda is called hti tin pwe ( ထီးတင်ပွဲ ). The hti

150-597: Is on display in the National Museum in Yangon. On the palace grounds is the Nandawya research museum, which exhibits items and artifacts found during the excavations, as well as information about the history of the second empire. On display are a number of the original 16th-century teak pillars and items like pottery, scales and weights used for commerce, ancient coins, glazed jars, swords and other weapons. The museum also contains

175-451: Is placed on the top of a pagoda and hung with a multitude of bells. The hti of prominent pagodas are often made entirely of gold or silver. The bells are used to attract the attention of good spirits in Tāvatiṃsa and other abodes of the devas of Mount Meru . The htis of the temples of Bagan and Mrauk U, the two archeological treasure troves of Myanmar, are all made of stone, while

200-470: Is renowned for its colorful cotton umbrellas, which are dubbed "Pathein umbrellas" or "Pathein parasols" (ပုသိမ်ထီး), which are traditionally made in home workshops. The hti can be said as the main distinctive feature of Burmese pagodas, as they are more prominent than their Sri Lankan counterparts, while the Laotian and Thai pagodas do not have any. The tip of the hti , which is studded with precious stones,

225-624: Is topped with a Pyatthat, a seven tiered Burmese style roof. Other buildings contained the chambers of members of the Royal family. There used to be 9 Royal Thrones in the Kanbawzathadi Golden palace, each decorated with a different motif and used for different occasions. Eight of them were destroyed by fire, the only surviving is the Thihathana Throne, also called Lion Throne because of the lion figures carved on it. The gilded, hard wood throne

250-426: The devas and of humans . Furthermore, the 12 city gates of Burmese royal capitals were crowned with pyatthats, with the main ones used by royalty possessing five tiers, and the others possessing five tiers. In pre-colonial Burma, sumptuary laws restricted the usage of pyatthats to royal and religious buildings, and regulated the number of tiers appertaining to each grade of official rank, The nine-tiered pyatthat

275-458: The htis of the pagodas there and elsewhere around Myanmar are made of metal (usually iron or steel), coated with gold. The hti is then decorated with golden or gold-plated brass and bronze bells ( ခေါင်းလောင်း ), and at jewelry donated by devotees. The hti of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon is about one and a half stories tall and contains about half a ton of gold. The hti belongs to

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300-407: The lebaw ( လည်ပေါ် ) between each roof. The pyatthat is crowned with a wooden spire called the taing bu ( တိုင်ဖူး ) or kun bu ( ကွန်းဖူး ) depending on its shape, similar to the hti , an umbrella ornament that crowns Burmese pagodas. The edges of each tier are gold-gilded decorative designs made of metal sheet, with decorative ornaments called du yin ( တုရင် ) at the corners (analogous to

325-442: The magaik form, and is set with over 5,500 diamonds, 2,300 rubies, sapphires and other gems, and 4,000 golden bells. The older hti , donated by the penultimate King of Burma, Mindon Min , can be seen at a temple inside the middle platform ( အလယ်ပစ္စယ or ရင်ပြင်တော် ) of the pagoda's compound. Said hti at Shwedagon is a gilt iron-work umbrella, on each of whose many rings hangs multitudes of gold and silver jewelled bells. It

350-541: The 16th century. The Great Audience Hall is a huge hall with rows of large pillars supporting the roof, its interior completely covered in gold paint. A copy of one of the Royal thrones as well as a number of the original 16th century teak logs are exhibited. The Bhammayarthana Throne Hall, also called Bee Throne Hall contained the private quarters for the King, including the Royal bed chamber and living chamber. This very ornate building has multiple roof sections and false floors, and

375-514: The Burmese king and his chief queen, while the highest officials ( wun , ဝန် ) and royal princes (including the Crown Prince or Uparaja ) possessed golden umbrellas and lower-level officials possessed red umbrellas, if any. The royal white umbrella was a sign of sovereignty. Indeed, use of a white umbrella by any persons other than the king and his chief queen was regarded as a declaration of rebellion, punishable with immediate execution. At

400-513: The Thai chofah ). There are three primary kinds of pyatthat, with the variation being the number of tiers called boun ( ဘုံ , from Pali bhumi ). Three-tiered, five-tiered and seven-tiered roofs are called yahma , thooba , and thooyahma , respectively. The usage of the pyatthat began early in Burmese architecture, with examples dating to the Pagan period . Prominent examples from this era that feature

425-492: The death of the king, the royal white umbrellas in his possession were broken. The white umbrella was also permitted for religious usage. For instance, The Mahamuni Buddha was formerly shaded by a white umbrella. The umbrellas were embellished inside and out with pictures of sylphs and fairies in gold, thin gold plates shaped like banyan leaves fastened to the top, and handles of gold adorned with pearls, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, corals and with spangles. The umbrella used by

450-410: The king when riding an elephant or travelling by carriage was called a yin hti . The number of umbrellas in one's possession was also an indication of social status, as they were showcased during public processions and put up in prominent places at home. The king was allotted nine white umbrellas, the crown prince eight golden ones, distinguished statesmen and military generals several golden ones, and

475-512: The new capital of the second Burmese empire, a large city called Hanthawadi (present day Bago) surrounded by walls with 20 gates. The palace was built on a 70 acres plot located at the center of the city. Construction started in 1553. Records written by European visitors to the city tell about the magnificence and splendor of the richly gilded palace. Some of its buildings like the Great Audience Hall were roofed with gold plates. The palace

500-518: The other royal personages had numbers corresponding to achievements or the king's regard to them. The royal white elephants ( hsinphyudaw , ဆင်ဖြူတော် ) were also granted six umbrellas, 2 white and 4 golden. The Shwepon Nidan , a treatise on palace matters, describes 11 types of royal umbrellas and corresponding spirit maidens ( nat thami , နတ်သ္မီး ) who guarded them: The Irrawaddy delta town of Pathein (formerly Bassein) in Lower Myanmar

525-510: The palace have been rebuilt. The Great Audience Hall was the largest building in the palace. It was the place where the King received his ministers and officials. The hall is also known as the Royal Lion Throne Hall, because it contained the Thihathana Throne or Lion Throne. During excavations a number of 167 teak pillars were found, 135 of which are inscribed in Mon language with the names of towns, regions and people who donated them in

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550-510: The pyatthat include the Ananda Temple and Gawdawpalin Temple In pre-colonial Burma, the pyatthat was a prominent feature in the royal buildings, which itself symbolized Tavatimsa , a Buddhist heaven. Above the main throne in the king's primary audience hall was a nine-tiered pyatthat, with the tip representing Mount Meru ( မြင်းမိုရ် ) and the lower six tiers representing the six abodes of

575-515: Was built by King Bayinnaung of the Taungoo dynasty, a vast empire that included much of present-day Burma, Thailand and parts of China. Bayinnaung was one of Burma’s greatest rulers, a mighty King who possessed many white elephants, a sign of wealth and power at that time. The King even obtained a sacred Buddha tooth relic from Sri Lanka, which he had installed in the Mahazedi Pagoda. Bayinnaung built

600-491: Was looted and burnt down in 1599 during armed conflict. Its remains were abandoned, and the palace was not rebuild until the late 20th century. Excavation works started in 1990. Six mounds were excavated, revealing the brick foundations of several of the palace buildings. Several hundred of the original teak pillars used for the construction of the palace in the 16th century were found, many of them inscribed with Mon texts, as well as nearly 2,000 Buddha images. Several buildings of

625-458: Was reserved solely for the kingdom's sovereign, while the sawbwas of important tributary states were entitled to seven-tiered pyatthats. Hti Hti ( Burmese : ထီး ; MLCTS : hti: , IPA: [tʰí] ; Mon : ဍိုၚ် [daŋ] ; Shan : ထီး [tʰi˦] ), a Burmese language word meaning umbrella , is the name of the finial ornament that tops almost all Burmese pagodas . The chatra umbrella or parasol

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