The capital of the first kingdom to unify much of what is now Myanmar — a dusty plain along the Irrawaddy River where, over roughly two and a half centuries, Buddhist kings, queens, and commoners raised thousands of brick temples and stupas to earn merit toward a better rebirth. By tradition some ten thousand were built; more than two thousand still stand, making Bagan one of the densest concentrations of religious architecture ever assembled and the cradle of Burmese Buddhist civilization.
Across a dry bend of the Irrawaddy River in central Myanmar stands a plain so thick with temples that from a high terrace you can count hundreds at once, their brick spires fading into the haze in every direction. By Burmese tradition the kings of Bagan (also spelled Pagan) raised ten thousand of them in two and a half centuries; more than two thousand survive today. They were not built to house crowds. Each one was an act of merit, a gift to the Buddha meant to lift its donor toward a better rebirth, so kings, queens, and ordinary families all kept building until the plain was a forest of spires. The kingdom that made it was the first to unite much of modern Myanmar, and its capital became the cradle of Burmese Buddhism. The kings eventually left, but the plain never stopped being holy. Pilgrims still come at dawn, and the sacred life of the plain never fully ended.