Shwedagon Pagoda

Shwedagon Pagoda The Shwedagon Pagoda (Burmese: ရွှေတိဂုံဘုရား; MLCTS: hrwe ti. gum. bhu. ra:, IPA: [ʃwèdəɡòʊɰ̃ pʰəjá]), officially named Shwedagon Zedi Daw (Burmese: ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်, [ʃwèdəɡòʊɰ̃ zèdìdɔ̀], lit. 'Golden Dagon Pagoda') and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda, is a gilded stupa located in Yangon, Myanmar.

The Shwedagon is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in Myanmar, as it is believed to contain relics of the four previous Buddhas of the present kalpa. These relics include the staff of Kakusandha, the water filter of Koṇāgamana, a piece of the robe of Kassapa, and eight strands of hair from the head of Gautama.

Built on the 51-metre (167 ft) high Singuttara Hill, the 112-metre (367 ft) tall pagoda stands 170 metres (560 feet) above sea level, and dominates the Yangon skyline. Yangon's zoning regulations, which cap the maximum height of buildings to 127 metres (417 feet) above sea level (75% of the pagoda's sea level height), ensure the Shwedagon's prominence in the city's skyline.