Mandalay Nandaw (မန္တလေး နန်းတော်)

Burmese. ‘Mandalay Palace’. Name of the Mandalay Royal Palace (fig.), a fortified citadel located to the north of the city center. It consists of a collection of imposing buildings, with the Glass Palace being the largest structure, whilst the eastern entrance, which has a large gold-tipped pyatthat (fig.), perhaps being the most impressing edifice. The original palace was constructed, between 1857 and 1859 AD, after King Mindon Min (fig.) founded Mandalay as the new royal capital city, in February 1857, and was the primary royal residence of the last two kings of Upper Burma until 1885 AD. It was largely constructed with materials recovered from the palace at Amarapura, which was basically relocated, while the teak logs that were no longer needed, were used to built the U Bein Bridge (fig.). The 413-hectare palace compound is surrounded by a 64 meter wide moat and 4 circa 8 meter high walls (fig.), each 2 kilometers long, with a total of 48 bastions and 12 gates. On the palace inner court is a 24 meter tall watch tower, of which a replica can today be found in Bagan. This palace watch tower, which is one of the few original palace buildings remaining today, has a winding staircase on the outside and is topped by a seven tiered pyatthat. During the Third Anglo-Burmese War, the British invaded and ransacked the palace, and captured the royal family. They turned the compound into Fort Dufferin, named after the then viceroy of India. During World War II, the palace was turned into a supply depot by the Japanese Imperial Army and was subsequently bombed by Allied Forces. The citadel burned down and only the Royal Mint (map - fig.), the Palace Watch Tower, and the Golden Palace Monastery (fig.) which after the death of King Mindon Min in 1878 AD had been relocated to a plot of land outside the palace compound, survived the war and a replica of the palace was rebuilt in the nineties. Opposite of the the eastern entrance of the Mandalay Royal Palace is the Mandalay Royal Monument (map - fig.), which features statues of the King Alaungpaya (fig.), King Bayinnaung (fig.), King Thalon (fig.), King Anawrahta (fig.), King Kyansittha (fig.), King Kyaswa (fig.), and King Bodawpaya (fig.), as well as of Prince Kanaung (fig.), and General Maha Bandula (fig.). See MAP. 回