The Royal Palace Monastery, also called the Shwenandaw Kyaung, was built by King Mindon. This building was located inside the Royal Palace grounds and was part of the 114 building palace. It was King Mindon’s living quarters in the Royal Palace. Then, after King Mindon died, his son, King Thibaw had the building moved outside of the Royal Palace grounds. He had it turned into a monastery to honor his father.

The building is all teak wood and all tongue and groove, so they were able to take it apart, move it, and put it back together. Of the original 114 buildings of the Royal Palace, this is the only one that remains today, specifically because it was moved outside the palace grounds. All the other buildings were destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II. Originally, the entire inside and outside of this building was completely covered in gold leaf. Today, there are only small sections inside that are covered with gold leaf.

And now for the craziest thing that we learned here. According to our guide, the American Embassy pays for the maintenance of this building. He didn’t know why or how and a quick search online didn’t tell me either but I found it very interesting. Our tax dollars at work…

1. This is the building from the back side, due to the height and angle of the sun when we were there. Again, this building is large, all teak wood, and all intricately carved.

2. This will give you some idea of the intricate carving done on the entire outer building.

3. This is the area where today, the monks live, stay, and pray.

4. This is the opposite side of the building from the prior photo. You can see that ladies are not allowed in the area of the main Buddha image.

5. I, of course, went into the area of the main Buddha image to take this photo.