Burma / Myanmar: Roof detail at King Mindon’s Palace, Mandalay (reconstructed) (photo)

Mandalay Fort's almost 3km (2 miles) of walls enclose King Mindon's palace. The walls rise 8m (26ft). The palace was constructed, between 1857 and 1859 as part of King Mindon's founding of the new royal capital city of Mandalay. The plan of Mandalay Palace largely follows the traditional Burmese palace design, inside a walled fort surrounded by a moat. The palace itself is at the centre of the citadel and faces east. All buildings of the palace are of one storey in height. The number of spires above a building indicated the importance of the area below. Mandalay, a sprawling city of more than 1 million people, was founded in 1857 by King Mindon to coincide with an ancient Buddhist prophecy. It was believed that Gautama Buddha visited the sacred mount of Mandalay Hill with his disciple Ananda, and proclaimed that on the 2,400th anniversary of his death, a metropolis of Buddhist teaching would be founded at the foot of the hill.