Bagan has an old name Pagan, which was the capital of the Pagan kingdom from the 9th to 13th centuries in central Myanmar today.
Bagan is now located in the dry land of central Myanmar, on the east bank of the Ayeyarwady River, 145 km southwest of Mandalay, in the Mandalay Region. It covers an area of about 25 square miles with hundreds of temples, monasteries. These temples were built between the 11th century and the end of the 13th century, during the transition from Mahayana Buddhism to Theravada Buddhism. The temples built during this golden age marked the beginning of new Buddhist traditions in Myanmar.
The Pagan dynasty had its golden age from 1057 with the annexation of King Anawrahta's Thaton and ended in 1287 when Kublai Khan and his army swept through the region. Anawrahta brought Bagan many Buddhist relics and Buddhist texts from Thaton along with many artists and architects. He and the successive kings have built temples, stupas ... nearly 200 years. Other royal palaces and architectures were also built, however, because of the wood, they were destroyed at the same time.
Ananda Temple is one of the largest and best preserved temples here. It was built in 1105, representing the infinite wisdom of the Buddha. The temple is made of stone, has a cross-shaped architecture, in the center is a cube and on each side is a standing Buddha. Architectural block with the bottom is the sharp point, tapered bamboo shoots, called shikhara. The outer wall of the paintings mixed with colored glazed tiles, illustrate the scenes in the book.
Thatbinnyu Temple, built in the middle of the 12th century, is the tallest temple in Bagan and can be seen at every point in the area.
In Bagan there are brick pagodas and then covered with gold.
UNESCO did not succeed in putting Bagan on the list of world cultural heritages.