Walking five hundred meters southwest from the outer courtyard of Ananda Temple, Bagan into the southeastern quarter of the ancient walled royal city of Old Bagan, travelers immediately behold a colossal whitewashed and weather-mottled masonry structure towering above every palmyra palm and red-brick stupa on the horizon. Reaching a height of 61 meters (201 feet) from its brick plinth to the gilded finial crowning its spire, this edifice has stood for more than eight and a half centuries as the tallest monument on the entire Bagan plain.
Known in Burmese as Thatbyinnyu Phaya (သဗ္ဗညုဘုရား), the sanctuary was commissioned around 1144 CE by King Alaungsithu (grandson and successor of King Kyanzittha). Rather than spreading horizontally across the ground like the single-story cave-temples of the eleventh century, Thatbyinnyu Temple stacks two monumental brick cubes one atop the other, elevating the principal sanctuary of Gautama Buddha high into the upper story where morning sunlight floods the lofty eastern arch. In the architectural and spiritual history of Southeast Asian Buddhism, Thatbyinnyu stands both as a visual tribute to the Omniscience (Sabbannuta-nana) of the Awakened One and as the defining masterpiece that inaugurated the vertical, light-filled aesthetic of the Middle Bagan period.
IHonoring the Omniscience of the Buddha and Elevating the Sacred Shrine into the Sky
The Burmese name Thatbyinnyu is the vernacular pronunciation of the Pali title Sabbannu (derived from Sabbannuta-nana, corresponding to Sanskrit Sarvajna), which translates as The Omniscient One or All-Knowing Wisdom. Half a century earlier, King Kyanzittha had erected Ananda Temple, Bagan (from Pali Ananta Panna, Infinite Wisdom) to celebrate the boundless horizontal reach of the Dharma across the four cardinal directions. When his grandson King Alaungsithu (also chronicled as Sithu I) ascended the throne of Pagan, he chose the epithet Sabbanu to honor the supreme vertical dimension of the Buddha's awakening: the unclouded comprehension that transcends the three worlds and perceives the causes, conditions, and liberation of all sentient beings.
This theological focus on transcendent wisdom inspired royal builders to revolutionize the spatial layout of the Burmese cave-temple (gu). Instead of placing the main Buddha image inside a dim ground-floor chamber modeled on a mountain cavern, the architects of Thatbyinnyu divided the elevation into two distinct masonry cubes set one above the other. The spacious ground floor and its mezzanine gallery were dedicated to monastic study, scripture storage, and circumambulation, while the primary shrine hall (Gandhakuti) housing the colossal seated Gautama Buddha was lifted more than twenty meters above the ground into the upper cube. As pilgrims ascended the steep internal staircases and stepped out onto the sunlit upper terraces before entering the high eastern sanctuary, the physical climb mirrored the contemplative ascent of the mind rising from worldly entanglement toward clear awakening.
Enshrined at the center of the lofty upper chamber sits a monumental gilded brick-and-stucco statue of Gautama Buddha upon a high masonry lotus throne, his right hand reaching downward in the Earth-Touching gesture (Bhumisparsa Mudra) while his serene countenance faces directly East toward the rising sun. Directly below on the ground floor, the four faces of the massive central load-bearing pier house recessed niches containing seated Buddha statues facing the four directions, uniting the foundational ethics of the lower world with the crowning omniscience of the upper sanctum.
Within canonical Theravada Buddhism, particularly as expounded in the Khuddaka Nikaya and the analytical treatise Patisambhidamagga (The Path of Discrimination), Omniscience (Sabbannuta-nana) is a distinct perfection of wisdom attained solely by a Fully Enlightened Buddha (Sammasambuddha) beneath the Bodhi tree. Whereas ordinary knowledge is fragmented by sensory limits and attachment, the Buddha's omniscience comprehends all conditioned and unconditioned phenomena together with the exact spiritual faculties and karmic dispositions of every living being.
By raising a temple named after the Omniscient Buddha higher than the royal palace and every surrounding stupa inside the capital walls, King Alaungsithu articulated a clear Buddhist philosophy of kingship: earthly sovereignty and imperial law remain subordinate to the all-seeing wisdom of the Triple Gem, which serves as the supreme moral compass guiding both ruler and subjects toward peace and liberation.
According to the Burmese royal chronicle Hmannan Yazawin (The Glass Palace Chronicle) and twelfth-century stone inscriptions from Bagan, King Alaungsithu (reigned circa 1112 or 1113 to 1167 CE) ruled the Pagan Empire for more than five decades, remembered both for his extensive royal barge journeys across the realm (including the famed voyage associated with Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda, Inle Lake) and for his devout patronage of Pali scholarship. Following his completion of the smaller Shwegugyi Temple in 1131 CE, the monarch mobilized royal artisans to begin constructing Thatbyinnyu around 1144 CE, bringing the work to completion around 1150 CE.
An illuminating piece of architectural history survives just southwest of the main sanctuary inside the compound wall in the form of a small brick stupa known as the Tally Pagoda. According to long-standing Burmese archaeological tradition, for every ten thousand kiln-fired bricks laid into the massive walls and vaults of Thatbyinnyu Temple, royal supervisors set aside one brick to construct this companion stupa, creating a permanent physical ledger of the millions of bricks required to raise the 61-meter monument.
Because Thatbyinnyu presents a soaring stepped profile with multiple rows of arched openings and six tiers of battlemented parapets, first-time visitors often assume the building contains five or six separate interior stories like a multi-floor tower. In reality, the temple consists of two primary hollow interior stories (the ground-floor hall with its mezzanine corridor and the elevated upper sanctuary), while the intermediate levels are solid receding masonry terraces engineered to distribute the immense structural load of the upper cube and central spire down into the massive brick core below.
IIOver Eight Centuries on the Royal Plain and Modern Seismic Conservation
Built during the prosperous twelfth-century apogee of the Pagan Empire, when irrigated rice agriculture in the Kyaukse basin and maritime trade down the Irrawaddy River funded unprecedented religious construction, Thatbyinnyu Temple marked the moment Burmese master builders stepped decisively beyond earlier Mon prototypes to create a distinctively Burmese vertical architecture. Across more than eight hundred and eighty years of dynastic change and recurring earthquakes along the Sagaing fault line, the monument has remained the unmistakable skyline anchor of Old Bagan.
- 1112 or 1113 CEAccession of King Alaungsithu (Sithu I) to the throne of PaganFollowing the passing of his grandfather King Kyanzittha, Alaungsithu ascends the throne, expanding irrigation networks, standardizing weights and measures, and patronizing Theravada Buddhist scholarship.
- Circa 1144 to 1150 CEConstruction and consecration of the 61-meter Thatbyinnyu TempleRoyal architects erect the two-stage brick sanctuary inside the southeastern corner of the Old Bagan city walls to honor the Omniscience of the Buddha, alongside the companion Tally Pagoda and stone bell pillars.
- Late 12th to 13th centuryArchitectural prototype for Late Bagan two-story monumentsThe elevated, brightly lit upper-shrine design of Thatbyinnyu inspires later royal builders who synthesize its verticality with cruciform symmetry at Sulamani Temple (1183), Gawdawpalin, and Htilominlo.
- Late 18th century (Konbaung Dynasty)Royal whitewashing and interior restoration under King BodawpayaMonastic caretakers and Konbaung royal patrons renew the protective lime-stucco exterior coat and refurbish the gilded Buddha throne in the upper sanctum.
- July 8, 1975Survival of the magnitude 6.5 Bagan earthquake and structural repairA severe earthquake topples the upper metal finial (hti) and cracks sections of the upper terraces; Myanmar's Department of Archaeology and UNESCO carry out structural grouting and spire restoration.
- August 24, 2016 to presentPost-2016 earthquake scientific conservation and 2019 UNESCO inscriptionAfter the magnitude 6.8 Chauk earthquake damages the shikhara spire and vaulted arches, an international multi-year seismic strengthening program is launched; on July 6, 2019, Bagan and Thatbyinnyu are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The monolithic stone bell pillars and the mystery of the 539 empty Jataka recesses. Two archaeological features around Thatbyinnyu shed fascinating light on twelfth-century engineering and art history. First, standing in the southwestern courtyard within the perimeter wall are two tall monolithic sandstone pillars notched with deep V-shaped grooves at their summits. These stone columns originally supported a massive timber crossbeam from which hung a multi-ton twelfth-century bronze monastery bell, testifying to the metallurgical and lifting technology of Alaungsithu's court.
Second, running along the vertical plinths of the receding upper terraces are 539 square recessed panels molded into the brickwork at the exact dimensions used to hold glazed terracotta Jataka plaques at Shwezigon Pagoda, Bagan and Ananda Temple, Bagan. Yet almost all 539 niches at Thatbyinnyu remain empty without traces of pried-off mortar, leading epigraphers and art historians to conclude that either the royal kilns did not finish firing the glazed series before the king's death or the architects deliberately left the geometric recesses unadorned to preserve the clean whitewashed lines of the facade.
IIIAsymmetrical Double-Cube Massing, Internal Wall Stairways, and Natural Daylight Engineering
In the history of Asian sacred architecture, Thatbyinnyu Temple represents a bold mastery of asymmetrical vertical equilibrium. Unlike the Greek-cross plan of Ananda Temple where four identical porches project equally toward all four cardinal points, the lower cube of Thatbyinnyu features a deeply projecting monumental entrance hall (mandapa) only on the Eastern face, while the northern, southern, and western porches remain shallow. To counterbalance the visual and physical weight of that prominent eastern vestibule, the master builders shifted the entire second-story cube slightly westward off the central axis of the lower block, giving the side profile of the monument a poised, stepped rhythm that draws the eye smoothly upward to the 61-meter summit.
Structurally, the temple relies on pointed brick arches, barrel vaults, and quadrant leaning vaults bracing a gigantic solid masonry pier at the center of the ground floor that carries the immense downward thrust of the upper sanctum and shikhara tower. Abandoning the dim perforated stone window screens of Early Bagan, the builders pierced each level of Thatbyinnyu with two tiers of tall, wide arched windows that flood the circumambulatory corridors and upper sanctuary with natural breeze and bright tropical daylight.
Measuring approximately 58 meters along its base with a spacious eastern vestibule, the ground story contains a lofty vaulted circumambulatory corridor and an intermediate mezzanine gallery once used by resident monks and royal chroniclers.
From the eastern vestibule, twin flights of brick steps built directly inside the thick masonry walls ascend to the third-level open terrace, where a steep central exterior staircase leads directly up to the upper sanctuary portal.
Perched atop the three lower receding terraces, the upper masonry cube encloses a high vaulted hall housing a colossal gilded brick-and-stucco Buddha seated in the Earth-Touching posture on an ornate throne facing East.
Three receding terraces above the lower cube and three above the upper cube are crowned by miniature corner stupas and flame-crested stucco pediments (sein-taung), culminating in the tapering shikhara tower and gilded hti finial at 61 meters.
Located in the southwestern quadrant of the walled compound stand the two notched stone pillars that once held the royal bronze bell and the small Tally Pagoda built from one brick set aside for every 10,000 bricks used in the main temple.
| Architectural feature | Technical specification and historical record | Verified source |
|---|---|---|
| Construction period | Circa 1144 to 1150 CE under King Alaungsithu (Sithu I) | UNESCO World Heritage Nomination Dossier (No. 1588), Burmese Chronicles |
| Total elevation | 61 meters (201 feet), tallest surviving monument on the Bagan plain | Department of Archaeology and National Museum, Myanmar |
| Plan and spatial massing | Asymmetrical double-cube vertical plan (dvi-tala), base width approx. 58 meters, main porch facing East | Pierre Pichard, Inventory of Monuments at Pagan (EFEO / UNESCO) |
| Terrace Jataka recesses | 539 square recessed panels along the exterior terrace plinths | Old Bagan Archaeological Survey |
| Compound auxiliary monuments | Tally Pagoda (1 brick per 10,000 bricks ratio) and twin monolithic stone bell pillars | Thatbyinnyu Conservation Records |
IVThe Lie of the Land
King Alaungsithu's choice of site inside the southeastern quarter of the royal city walls of Old Bagan reflects a deliberate integration of imperial urban planning and sacred landscape geometry. The section below examines the temple's riverine terrain, mountain horizons, and solar orientation through the library's traditional East Asian landform framework.
In terms of macro-terrain and the great bend of the Irrawaddy River at coordinates 21.1689 degrees north, 94.8631 degrees east, Thatbyinnyu Temple stands on high, stable alluvial ground along the eastern bank of the Irrawaddy River (Ayeyarwady). As Myanmar's principal waterway flows southwest past Nyaung-U, it curves in a broad, sweeping arc around the fortified citadel of Old Bagan before turning southward, forming a classic jade-belt river embrace (yu dai huan yao) that cradles the ancient capital. Positioned roughly seven hundred meters inland from the river bluff, the temple foundation sits safely above monsoon flood levels while receiving cooling river breezes across the plain.
In terms of mountain screens and sacred axial relationships, the long ridge of the Tangyi Hills (Tangyi Taung) rises across the western bank of the Irrawaddy as a protective front screen shielding the plain from dry western winds, while fifty kilometers to the southeast the volcanic peak of Mount Popa (Mount Popa Taung Kalat) anchors the regional horizon as an auspicious backing mountain. Within the royal capital itself, Thatbyinnyu occupies the geometric pivot linking Bagan's grandest sanctuaries: standing 500 meters southwest of Ananda Temple, Bagan, just south of the ancient Royal Palace site and Shwegugyi Temple, and looking southeast toward Dhammayangyi Temple, Bagan and Sulamani Temple, Bagan. Rising to 61 meters, Thatbyinnyu functions as the central vertical gnomon anchoring the spiritual skyline of the walled city.
Regarding cardinal orientation, the monument is aligned precisely sitting West and facing East along the equinoctial sunrise axis. Both the ground-floor entrance hall and the elevated upper sanctum housing the seated Buddha open directly toward the East (Purva), so that the first golden rays of dawn streaming across the Bagan plain pass straight through the lofty upper archway to illuminate the face of the Omniscient Buddha before touching the lower rooftops of the city.
VFull-Moon Festivals of the Burmese Lunar Calendar and Contemplative Pilgrimage
As one of the most venerated active monuments inside the ancient walls of Old Bagan, Thatbyinnyu Temple observes the traditional cycle of Theravada Buddhist full-moon festivals throughout the Burmese lunar year. The table below outlines the principal annual observances celebrated by residents of Nyaung-U and pilgrims from across Myanmar.
| Timing | Calendar system | Festival name | Ceremonies and devotional practices at Thatbyinnyu Temple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Moon of Kason (April or May) | Burmese lunar calendar | Vesak (Buddha Day) and Kason Bodhi Tree Watering Festival (Nyaungye-thun Pwe) | Pilgrims dressed in festive traditional attire carry earthen pots of scented water in procession around the compound to pour over sacred Bodhi trees, honoring the birth, supreme awakening into Omniscience, and Parinibbana of the Buddha. |
| Full Moon of Waso (July) | Burmese lunar calendar | Beginning of the Monastic Rains Retreat (Waso) and Wildflower Offerings | Villagers from around Old Bagan and Nyaung-U gather fresh field blossoms to offer before the ground-floor Buddha images and present monsoon robes and alms to monks entering the three-month Vassa retreat. |
| Full Moon of Thadingyut (October) | Burmese lunar calendar | Thadingyut Festival of Lights Marking the End of the Rains Retreat | For three nights around the full moon, thousands of terracotta oil lamps and candles are lit along the perimeter walls, courtyard paving, and eastern porch to welcome the Buddha's descent from Tavatimsa Heaven. |
| Full Moon of Tazaungmone through Pyatho (November to January) | Burmese lunar calendar | Tazaungdaing Festival and Cool-Season Bagan Pilgrimage Season | Families traveling from across Mandalay, Sagaing, and Lower Myanmar for the winter temple festivals visit Thatbyinnyu to chant Pali paritta protective verses and offer gold leaf and jasmine garlands. |
Quiet contemplation beneath twelfth-century brick vaults at late afternoon. Even outside major festival days, stepping through the eastern portal of Thatbyinnyu offers a profound sense of stillness. Inside the lofty ground-floor ambulatory, the sound of horse carts and electric bicycles along the sandy lanes fades away, replaced by cool air circulating through the double rows of tall arched windows and the soft echo of barefoot pilgrims reciting verses before the seated Buddhas.
Gazing upward from the courtyard as the late afternoon sun turns the 61-meter whitewashed walls and terraced battlements warm gold against the sky, visitors can appreciate the enduring vision of King Alaungsithu's builders: transforming millions of humble river-clay bricks into a luminous monument to boundless wisdom.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Old Bagan Citadel Zone, 500 meters southwest of Ananda Temple, Nyaung-U Township, Mandalay Region, Myanmar
- Getting there
- Thatbyinnyu Temple stands inside the southeastern corner of the Old Bagan walled city, approximately 500 meters southwest of Ananda Temple and 300 meters south of the ancient Tharabar Gate. From Nyaung-U or New Bagan (about 5 to 7 km away), visitors can easily travel by electric scooter (e-bike), horse-drawn cart, bicycle, or taxi along Anawrahta Road through Tharabar Gate and turn south onto the signed sandy lane leading to the temple's eastern gate. From Nyaung-U Airport (Bagan Airport), the drive by taxi takes roughly 20 minutes (10 km).
- Coordinates
- 21.1689, 94.8631
In accordance with universal Buddhist custom throughout Myanmar, visitors must remove all shoes, sandals, and socks at the outer compound entrance before stepping onto the temple courtyard or interior stone and brick floors; because exposed brick paving can grow very hot under the midday sun, visiting in the early morning or late afternoon is most comfortable. Please wear modest attire that covers both shoulders and knees (such as long trousers or a traditional Burmese longyi). To safeguard the twelfth-century masonry vaults and seismic retrofitting completed after the 2016 earthquake, access to the upper-story staircases and roof terraces is permanently closed to the public, and visitors venerate the Buddha images and architectural vaults from the ground-floor halls and outer courtyard.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
Contribute photos, information or video for Thatbyinnyu Temple, Bagan
Master Ưng Khiêm welcomes the community to enrich this page: a photograph taken on site, a historical detail not yet noted, or a short video. Every contribution is read and answered.
No community contribution yet. You could be the first.
?Quick Questions
What does the name Thatbyinnyu mean in Buddhist teaching?
Thatbyinnyu is the Burmese pronunciation of the Pali word Sabbannu (from Sabbannuta-nana), meaning The Omniscient One or All-Knowing Wisdom. King Alaungsithu named the temple to celebrate the supreme, all-encompassing enlightenment of Gautama Buddha.
How tall is Thatbyinnyu Temple and how does it rank among Bagan's monuments?
Rising 61 meters (201 feet) from its brick base to the tip of its spire, Thatbyinnyu Temple is the tallest surviving religious monument among the more than two thousand stupas and temples on the ancient plain of Bagan, surpassing both Gawdawpalin Temple (55 meters) and Ananda Temple (51 meters).
How does the architectural layout of Thatbyinnyu differ from that of Ananda Temple?
Whereas Ananda Temple (completed in 1105 CE) exemplifies the Early Bagan style with a single-story symmetrical Greek-cross plan and relatively dim interiors, Thatbyinnyu (built c. 1144 CE) inaugurated the Middle Bagan style by stacking two masonry cubes vertically in an asymmetrical layout, elevating the main Buddha shrine into the upper story and piercing the walls with two tiers of large arched windows to flood the interior with natural light.
What is the small Tally Pagoda standing next to Thatbyinnyu Temple?
The small brick stupa in the southwestern corner of the compound is known as the Tally Pagoda. According to twelfth-century Burmese construction tradition, royal builders set aside one brick for every 10,000 bricks laid in the main temple and used those tally bricks to erect this companion stupa as an accounting record.
Can visitors still climb the internal staircases to the upper terraces of Thatbyinnyu Temple?
No. To protect the ancient twelfth-century masonry vaults and preserve the structural stabilization work carried out after the 2016 earthquake under UNESCO World Heritage guidelines, all staircases leading to the upper stories and terraces are closed to general visitors, who may explore the ground-floor corridors and courtyard.