Walk through the books

The Mahalawka Marazein Kuthodaw Pagoda, located at the foot of Mandalay Hill in Mandalay, is a golden temple surrounded by hundreds of stone tablets that comprise the ‘world's largest book’. The expansive tome etched on over 700 stone slabs surrounding Myanmar’s glittering Kuthodaw Pagoda form a volume that would test even the most ardent bookworm.

Built in 1857 by King Mindon Min, the grand temple building is completely gilded on the exterior, granting it the look of a solid gold spectacle. The true wonder, nonetheless, lays within the stark white stupas that encircle its base.

Beneath the pinnacled roofs of the squat little structures are 730 marble tablets covered on both sides with dense scripts. Taken all together, they comprise the entirety of Theravada Buddhism’s religious canon, its Tipitaka – meaning ‘three baskets’, a reference to the baskets in which the original Buddhist teachings were held.

The white shrines, arranged in rows around the compound of the pagoda, form wide corridors for visitors to plod through. Aside from strolling along the walkways between slabs, one can further immerse in the experience by putting on Thanaka, the Myanmar make-up.

The Kuthodaw Pagoda is akin to the Sandamuni Pagoda containing a number of temples and pagodas in the compound. Mandalay Royal Palace, Mandalay Hill, Atumashi monastery, Sandamuni Pagoda, Shwenandaw Monastery are all nearby Kuthodaw Pagoda, and tourists can readily visit many pagodas on the same day.