Photo taken by @stevemccurryofficial // Split by an earthquake in 1838, King Bodawpaya's pagoda in Mingun, near Mandalay, is a monument to earthly ambition and a dream unfulfilled. Begun in 1790 to enshrine a holy relic - a tooth reputed to be the Buddha's - the pagoda was envisioned by Bodawpaya as the world's largest. Thousands of slaves did the work. When Bodawpaya died in 1819, the brick base with its decorated doorway stood 162 feet high -about one-third the planned height- and 236 feet long on each side. Bodawpaya's children decided that that was big enough. They halted construction on the ornate structure that was to sit atop the brick base, and the shrine fell into disuse. Despite the pagoda's ruined condition, visitors must still remove their shoes before entering the sacred site.
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