Amarapura

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Amarapura (Burmese: အမရပူရမ္ရုိ့; MLCTS: a. ma. ra. pu ra. mrui.; lit. City of Immortality) is a city in the Mandalay Division of Myanmar, situated 11 km to the south of Mandalay. It is often referred to as Taungmyo (Southern City) to distinguish it from Mandalay (Northern City) but nowadays the two have become continuous from urban sprawl.

U Bein Bridge across the Taungthaman Lake

King Bodawpaya (1781-1819) of the Konbaung Dynasty founded Amarapura as his new capital in 1783, soon after he ascended the throne. In 1795, he received the first British embassy to Burma from the British East India Company led by Michael Symes ^[1]]. Bodawpaya's son, King Bagyidaw (1819-1837), moved the Court back to Ava in 1823.

From 1841-1857, King Mindon (1853-1878) decided to make Amarapura the capital again before relocating to his planned city of Mandalay in 1860. Today little remains of the old city as the palace buildings were dismantled and moved by elephant to the new location, and the city walls were pulled down for use as building materials for roads and railways.

The city is known today for its traditional silk and cotton weaving, and bronze casting. It is a popular tourist day-trip destination from Mandalay.

U Bein Bridge, detail

Other sights of interest include:

Pahtodawgyi – A stupa built by King Bodawpaya in 1820 outside the city walls ^[2]
Bagaya Kyaung – a wooden monastery founded by King Mindon
U Bein’s Bridge – a 1.2 km wooden footbridge (longest teak bridge in the world) built by the mayor U Bein salvaging the unwanted teak columns from the old palace during the move to Mandalay
Kyautawgyi Paya – A stupa built by King Pagan in 1847 at the farther end of U Bein's bridge
Palace Ruins – containing tombs of King Bodawpaya and King Bagyidaw, and part of the old moat
Maha Gandhayon Kyaung - a large modern monastery complex with hundreds of monks and novices, well known throughout the country

In 1800, Buddhist clergy from Sri Lanka obtained higher ordination in this city and founded the Amarapura Nikaya ( Amarapura sect).