Mandalay Royal Palace

The last Palace built by Burmese Royals
When King Mindon Min founded Mandalay in 1857 he ordered construction of a new Royal Palace called the Mya Nan San Kyaw. The old Royal Palace in the former capital Amarapura was dismantled, transported to Mandalay and rebuilt there.

The Mandalay Royal Palace is the last Palace built by Burmese Royals. On the large complex are dozens of buildings including audience halls, throne halls, a monastery, a watch tower, a court building, a tooth relic building and a library where the Buddhist scriptures were kept.

The citadel with the teak wood Palace
The Palace that was completely made from teak wood was built in the center of a large citadel or fort. The square citadel was surrounded by four walls each 2 kilometers long with a total of 48 turrets. In the walls were 12 gates, one for each sign of the Zodiac. Around the walls was a 60 meter wide moat, crossed by a number of bridges.

In 1885 during the reign of King Thibaw Min the British took Mandalay ending the Konbaung dynasty. The Palace was looted and converted into a fort for the British army. During the second World War the Royal Palace was destroyed by fire after a bombing raid. The only two original buildings that survived are the Royal mint and the watch tower. During the 1990’s the Palace was rebuilt following the original design but partly using modern materials as concrete.

Inside the Palace there are some artifacts on display in glass showcases and several reproductions of thrones. Much of the original artifacts that were in the Palace at the end of the 19th century are still on display in a British museum. Several rooms of the Palace display life size statues of King Mindon Min and his successor King Thibaw Min, the last Burmese King. Today part of the citadel complex is used by the Burmese army, the Palace and surrounding gardens are open to the public.

History of Mandalay Royal Palace
The Mandalay Palace was constructed as part of King Mindon's founding of Mandalay in February 1857. Large parts of the palace were reconstructed from the palace at Amarapura, which was relocated to Mandalay. The master plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned city, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the centre by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare royal palace compound was surrounded by four 2 km (6666 ft) long walls and a moat 64 m (210 ft) wide, 4.5 m (15 ft) deep. Along the wall were bastions with gold-tipped spires at intervals of 169 m (555 ft). The walls had three gates on each side, twelve in total, each presenting a zodiac sign. The citadel had five bridges to cross the moat.

In June 1857, the construction of the palace began. After the disastrous Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, the shrunken Burmese kingdom had few resources to build a new ostentatious palace. The former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill. The construction of the palace compound was officially completed on Monday, 23 May 1859.

The British invaded and ransacked the palace and burned down the royal library.The royal regalia of Burma were removed as military booty and displayed in the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A Museum, London). In 1964 they were returned to Burma as a gesture of goodwill [6] The British renamed the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops. During World War II, the palace citadel was turned into a supply depot by the Japanese and was carelessly burnt to the ground by Allied bombing. Only the royal mint and the watch tower survived.

Reconstruction of the palace began in 1989, initiated by the Department of Archaeology. Because government funds were insufficient, the Mandalay Committee for the palace Reconstruction was formed, with funds coming from the State Law and Order Restoration Council, which patronized this project. The regional governments of Mandalay, Magwe and Sagaing Divisions were responsible for drawing up architectural plans and constructing various parts of the palace:

Mandalay Division: Great Audience Hall, the Lion Throne
Magwe Division: Watchtower, Lily Throne Room
Sagaing Division; Goose Throne Room
While the overall design was faithful, the construction process incorporated both traditional and modern building techniques. Corrugated sheet metal was used for the roofing of most buildings, while concrete was extensively used as a building material (the original palace was built using only teak.

One of the halls was dismantled during the rule of King Thibaw and rebuilt as Shwenandaw Monastery. It is the single remaining major structure of the original wooden palace today.

Buildings of the Royal Palace
The Palace grounds contain dozens of buildings.

Watch tower
The watch tower is a very solid reddish brown cylindrical tower measuring 24 meters high. It is topped by a golden seven tiered Pyatthat roof. The stairway winding around the tower can be climbed, which gives a good overview of the Palace and great views of Mandalay.

The watch tower is one of only two original buildings left, the other one being the Royal Mint.

Tooth relic tower
Close to the main entrance is the Burmese style tooth relic tower. The all white square structure has a small square relic chamber on top and a steep stairway leading to it. In spite of its name the building never contained a relic from the Buddha, it houses a Buddha statue instead.

Supreme Court building
The Supreme Court building is an impressive structure with a multi tiered roof where the King used to dispense justice. Both the building and the roof are in a dark reddish brown color. The finials and roof lines are intricately decorated in gold colors.

Royal Mausoleums
A number of Royal Mausoleums was erected for the remains of several members of the Burmese Royal Family. One if for the founder of Mandalay and the Royal Palace, King Mindon Min.

Great Audience hall
The Great Audience Hall is another very attractive, intricately decorated building. The hall is about 75 meters long and topped with a seven tiered Pyatthat roof. In front of it are a few old canons. The wooden bargeboards and eaves boards on the roof are all carved in flower patterns. In the original building there were also gilded.

How to get to the Mandalay Palace
Mandalay Royal Palace is located in the North end of Mandalay. The huge grounds are found between 12th street in the North and 26th street (National Highway 3) in the South.

Opening hours
The Palace opens daily from 7:30 am until 5 pm.
The entrance is the East gate of the citadel.

Entrance fee
Entrance fee is US$ 5 per person.

• Opened: 1859
• Alternative names: Mya Nan San Kyaw Golden Palace
• Construction started: 1857
• Function: Palace