Burma/ Myanmar: Frescoes and a Buddha image in a temple in Bagan, Upper Burma, c.1920s.

The ruins of Bagan (also spelled Pagan) cover an area of 16 square miles (41 km2). The majority of its buildings were built between the 11th and 13th centuries, during the time Bagan was the capital of the First Burmese Empire. It was not until King Pyinbya moved the capital to Bagan in 874 CE that it became a major city. However, in Burmese tradition, the capital shifted with each reign, and thus Bagan was once again abandoned until the reign of King Anawrahta who, in 1057, conquered the Mon capital of Thaton, and brought back the Tripitaka (Tipitaka) Pali scriptures, Buddhist monks and craftsmen to help transform Bagan into a religious and cultural centre. With the help of a monk from Lower Burma, Anawrahta made Theravada Buddhism the state religion.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, Bagan became a truly cosmopolitan centre of Buddhist studies, attracting monks and students from as far as India, Sri Lanka as well as the Siamese and Khmer kingdoms. Among many other works, Aggavaṃsa's influential ‘Saddaniti,’ a grammar of the language of the Tripiṭaka, would be completed there in 1154. In 1287, the kingdom fell to the Mongols, after refusing to pay tribute to Kublai Khan. Abandoned by the Burmese king and perhaps sacked by the Mongols, the city declined as a political centre, but continued to flourish as a place of Buddhist scholarship.

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