Located on the edges of the Irrawaddy, Mandalay is the second plus big city of the Myanmar, with 927.000 inhabitants in 2005 (2,5 million for the agglomeration). It was the last royal capital, between 1860 and 1885, under the Dynastie Konbaung.

An administrative area of the country bears the name from there. The new capital, Naypyidaw, are in the district of Mandalay.

Remarkable monuments

The Fort

Its square, high and thick enclosure of 3, 9 m is surrounded by ditches of a width of 75 Mr. It is provided with crenels and turns. The fort contained the royal palace of Mandalay. During the Second world war, the city fell to the hands from the Japanese (from 1942 to 1945) and the fort was used as warehouse. When it was bombarded by the Britanniques, the royal palace, which was out of wood, left in smoke.

The strong one has today administrative offices and military. It shelters in particular a prison.

Monastery of Shwenandaw

This marvellous building in Teck is the only vestige of the royal palace. It formed of it part until death of the Setkyadevî queen. The king Thibaw (last king de Mandalay, of 1878 to 1885), refusing to live there, made it dismount, transport out of the enclosure of the fort and transform into monastery (what avoided the destruction to him).

Others

The market of Zegyo shelters approximately 6000 exhibitors.

Transport

The International airport of Mandalay is connected to Rangoun and the Burmese main cities, like with Kunming in the province of the Yunnan in the south of the China.

Sources

• Louis Frederic, the Art of India and the Southeast Asia , Flammarion, 1994.

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