Myanmar is home to the Shwedagon Pagoda, the major Buddhist stupa overlooking Yangon.
The gilded stupa stands on Singuttara Hill and is one of Myanmar’s most important religious and cultural landmarks. Buddhist tradition says it enshrines relics of four Buddhas, including eight hairs of Gautama Buddha, although the monument’s precise earliest history is difficult to establish.
The present structure developed through centuries of construction and rebuilding, especially after earthquakes. Its upper parts are covered with gold plates and topped by a crown ornament decorated with precious stones.
The pagoda is sometimes described as a temple, but its central structure is specifically a stupa, a Buddhist monument traditionally associated with relics or sacred remembrance. Visitors remove their shoes before entering the platform.