This ‘Sacred Hall of Ordination’ was originally constructed in 1476 by Dhammazedi, the famous alchemist king and son of Queen Shinsawpu. Like almost everything in Bago it has suffered a tumbledown history and has been destroyed and rebuilt many a time.
Next to the hall are 10 large tablets with inscriptions in Pali and Mon describing the history of Buddhism in Myanmar.
If you can’t get enough of buddha statues then across the road from the Maha Kalyani Sima is the Four Figures Paya , with four buddha figures standing back to back. An adjacent open hallway has a small reclining buddha image, thronged by followers, and some macabre paintings of wrongdoers being tortured in the afterlife.
Relaxing in the sun next to these two monuments is the serene Naung Daw Gyi Mya Tha Lyaung , a reclining buddha sprawled out over 250ft and built in 2002 with public donations.
