Mandalay Palace - History

History

The Mandalay Palace was constructed as part of King Mindon's founding of Mandalay in February 1857. The master plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned city, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the centre by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare royal palace compound was surrounded by four 2 km (6666 ft) long walls and a moat 64 m (210 ft) wide, 4.5 m (15 ft) deep. Along the wall were bastions with gold-tipped spires at intervals of 169 m (555 ft). The walls had three gates on each side, twelve in total, each presenting a zodiac sign. The citadel had five bridges to cross the moat.

In June 1857, the construction of the palace began. After the disastrous Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, the shrunken Burmese kingdom had few resources to build a new ostentatious palace. The former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill. The construction of the palace compound was officially completed on Monday, 23 May 1859.

The British looted the palace and some of the artefacts which were taken away are still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and burned down the royal library. The British renamed the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops. During World War II, the palace citadel was turned into a supply depot by the Japanese and was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing. Only the royal mint and the watch tower survived.

Reconstruction of the palace began in 1989, initiated by the Department of Archaeology. Because government funds were insufficient, the Mandalay Committee for the palace Reconstruction was formed, with funds coming from the State Law and Order Restoration Council, which patronized this project. The regional governments of Mandalay, Magwe and Sagaing Divisions were responsible for drawing up architectural plans and constructing various parts of the palace:

• Mandalay Division: Great Audience Hall, the Lion Throne
• Magwe Division: Watchtower, Lily Throne Room
• Sagaing Division; Goose Throne Room

While the overall design was faithful, the construction process incorporated both traditional and modern building techniques. Corrugated sheet metal was used for the roofing of most buildings, while concrete was extensively used as a building material (the original palace was built using only teak.

One of the halls was dismantled during the rule of King Thibaw and rebuilt as Shwenandaw Monastery. It is the single remaining major structure of the original wooden palace today.