Shwethalyaung Buddha of Bago – Bago, Myanmar (Burma) - Atlas Obscura
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Shwethalyaung Buddha of Bago

Bago, Myanmar (Burma)

The second largest reclining Buddha in the world got "lost" for over 120 years. 

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Christopher Voitus (Wikimedia Commons)
Christopher Voitus (Wikimedia Commons)
Nkenji (Some rights reserved by )
The newer Naung Daw Gyi Mya Tha Lyaung Buddha Chenevier (Some rights reserved by chenevier)
The gilded soles of the Naung Daw Gyi Mya Tha Lyaung reclining Buddha Mangostani (Some rights reserved by mangostani)
Face of the Naung Daw Gyi Mya Tha Lyaung reclining Buddha Tanenhaus (Some rights reserved by Tanenhaus)
A nearby sitting Buddha Tanenhaus ( Some rights reserved by Tanenhaus)
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One thinks it would be hard to lose the second largest reclining Buddha in the world. Apparently that would be wrong. 

Believed to have been built in 994, the Shwethalyaung Buddha is huge, at 180 feet long and 52 feet high. However after a 1757 pillaging of the area, the world lost track fo the Buddha, only to have a British railway engineer accidentally rediscover it, completely overgrown with jungle, in 1880.

The Buddha was given a giant mosiac pillow in 1930, and is currently kept under a rather unattractive enormous shed. 

A number of other giant Buddhas can be found throughout Bago, however the Shwethalyaung Buddha is the oldest and most revered. 

giant buddhas statues
Community Contributors
serflac
Added by
serflac
Gerard Nolan
claytondewey
Edited by
Gerard Nolan, claytondewey
Published
August 15, 2011
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Nearby
Taukkyan War Cemetery
31.47 miles
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