Page 63 - The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma)

Downtown Yangon Yangon and around 61
According to local tradition, the pagoda was built during the lifetime of the Buddha 1
himself, although the more likely, albeit prosaic, explanation is that it dates back to the
Mon era in the tenth century, or thereabouts. The 43m-high stupa was enlarged to its
present size by Queen Shinsawbu (ruled 1453–72) and is said to enshrine one of the
Buddha’s hairs, given (it’s said) by the Buddha himself to the brothers Tapissa and Balika,
two itinerant merchants from Myanmar. More recently, the Sule Pagoda served as an
important rallying point for pro-democracy activists during both the 1988 uprising and
the 2007 Saffron Revolution – and was the scene of a brutal massacre during the latter,
when the military opened fire on unarmed protestors, killing nine people.
Four staircases lead up to the pagoda from each of the cardinal points, with four
matching shrines attached to the base of the stupa at the top of each flight of stairs,
all topped with flamboyant gilded roofs. The stupa itself sits on an octagonal base
(following the standard Burmese design) but is unusual in that both the bell and spire
of the stupa continue the octagonal shape, rather than following the circular pattern
adopted by virtually all other Burmese stupas.
Early evening is particularly busy and atmospheric, while you’ll also see many people
praying in the direction of the stupa in the streets outside as they pass.

Mahabandoola Garden
• Between Sule Pagoda Rd and Mahabandoola Garden St • Daily 6am–6pm • Free
Providing a blissful square of open green space amid the super-compacted streets of
downtown Yangon, Mahabandoola Garden is at once a peaceful city park and also a
shrine to Burmese nationalism. Formerly known as Fytche Square (in honour of
Albert Fytche, Chief Commissioner of British Burma), the park was later renamed
after the legendary General Mahabandoola (or Maha Bandula), leader of Burmese
forces during the First Anglo-Burmese War (see p.366), and is also home to the soaring
Independence Monument, commemorating Burmese independence in 1948. The
garden itself, dotted with little bonsai-like topiary trees and a fancy modern fountain,
is a popular spot for locals practising t’ai chi before and after work, and is a nice place
to stretch your legs after the cramped downtown pavements; it also offers good views
of the neighbouring City Hall and Sule Pagoda. A line of palmists ply their trade
outside the railings along the garden’s west side.

Around Mahabandoola Garden
Yangon’s finest array of colonial architecture lies clustered in the area immediately to
the east of Mahabandoola Garden and down Pansodan Street. Flanking the northern
side of Mahabandoola Garden is the imposing City Hall (1924), its Neoclassical outlines
jazzed up with a riot of ersatz-oriental decorative motifs including pagoda-topped
roofs, chintzy stone latticework and a pair of dragons suspended over the main
entrance, with a peacock between.
The large, faintly French-looking building opposite was originally the Rowe & Co.
Department Store (built 1910), the “Harrods of the East”, which survived here until
being nationalized by the army in 1964. It now houses a branch of the AYA Bank.
One of the few major downtown landmarks to have been thoroughly restored, it offers
a good example of what these superb old buildings could look like, given sufficient
time, love and money.
On the other side of Mahabandoola Road, a pair of distinctively spiky spires top
the Immanuel Baptist Church of 1952 (the original church, commissioned by an
American missionary in 1885, was destroyed during World War II), while sprawling
beyond down the east side of Mahabandoola Garden is the former Supreme Court
building (1911) in generic Neoclassical style with cream details, topped by a giant
red-brick clocktower.

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