“Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer - and often the supreme disappointment."
Ansel Adams .
Bagan
Bagan choice
Yangoon
Inle Lake
Mandalay
Thandwe
Sulamani was built in 1181 by Narapatisithu. This temple was known as "crowing jewel" and it stands beyond Dhammayangyi Pagoda. This temple is a more sophisticated temple than the Htilominlo and Gawdawpalin. Sulamani represents some of Bagan's finest ornamental work which are carved stucco on mouldings, pediments and pilasters. These are today in fairly good condition. Glazed plaques around the base and terraces are also still visible. Buddha images face the four directions from the ground floor; the image at the main eastern entrance sits in a recess built into the wall. The interior passage around the base is painted with fine frescoes from the Konbaung period, and there are traces of earlier frescoes. Stairways lead very close to the top of this temple, from where the views are superb. Sulamani Temple was restored after the 1975 earthquake, and utilises brick and stone, with frescoes in the interior of the temple. It was rebuilt in 1994.
The Gawdawpalin Temple was built by King Narapatisithu after building the Sulamani Temple. But the king did not complete the construction. It was completed by his son Htilominlo. It is about 180 feet high and the structure is common like the Sulamani temple. Gawdawpalin is counted as one of the largest shrines of Bagan. The temple is a double-storeyed temple in the late style. It is square in plan, with porticoes on all four sides, but with the eastern portico projecting further than the others. In the ground storey, a vaulted corridor runs around a central block against whose four sides are placed images of the Buddha.
