Shwedagon Pagoda

The Shwedagon Pagoda is Myanmar's most important Buddhist pagoda, since it is said to house relics of the four previous Buddhas of the current kalpa. These relics include Kakusandha's staff, Kogamana's water filter, a piece of Kassapa's robe, and eight strands of hair from Gautama's scalp.

The 112 m (367 ft) tall pagoda, built on the 51-metre (167 ft) high Singuttara Hill, sits 170 m (560 ft) above sea level and dominates the Yangon skyline. The Shwedagon's prominence in the city's skyline is ensured by Yangon's zoning restrictions, which limit construction heights to 127 meters (417 feet) above sea level (75% of the pagoda's sea level height).

This gleaming 2,500-year-old temple complex is coated in over 60 tonnes of gold leaf and was characterized by writer Rudyard Kipling as a "golden enigma." The compound has several shrines.

Location: Yangon