Bagan Temples and Pagodas - Myanmar

Built around the 11th and 13th centuries AD more than 13,000 temples were once standing along the Irrawaddy River. As one third of the city's area has been washed away by the river, others were intentionally destroyed in search of treasures. Natural calamities such as earthquakes also destroyed some of them, turning them into piles of crumbled stones. Today, there are 2,200 temples remain standing.

However, unlike other ancient temples hidden in the vastness of South East Asian jungles, the temples and pagodas in Bagan are unhidden. Spreading across the dusty plains of this ancient city, these temples are notable for their sizes and shapes of oblong and square with terraces on the outside, a representation of the gods home. The interior corridors are also lined with sacred images that people worship.

Bagan temples and pagodas are amazing treasures of Myanmar. It was submitted to UNESCO but they refused it, claiming that Myanmar's military junta restored the damage temples, used new materials and changed the designs that bear no resemblance to the original one. Anyhow, these temples and pagodas shaped Myanmar's rich history and made South East Asian architecture one of the finest in the world.