Shwedagon Pagoda and Surroundings, Yangon, Myanmar
1 April 2010

Note: The area of coverage in this WORLDVIEW-2 image is approximately 1 km x 1 km.
The reduced resolution image on display has undergone compression and so does not represent the true resolution of the original satellite image.

The magnificent Shwedagon Pagoda dominates the image of north-central Yangon. Shwedagon sits on a 5 ha platform, gleaming white in the image, with four entrances and innumerable pagodas, halls, shops, and shrines surrounding the main stupa. A 6 m plinth raises the stupa above the platform, which is then succeeded by three square terraces, a number of octagonal terraces, and five circular bands, all levels being progressively smaller in area as they rise above the landscape. All the terraces and bands are clearly visible on the image but the sun shining brightly on the gold leaf and gold plates of the stupa makes it difficult to identify the bell, the flower arrangement, and the orb at the top decorated with more than 4300 diamonds including one with 76 carats. Prayers are expected to be fulfilled if made at the star-shaped structure on the platform, north of the main stupa. The prominent golden stupa at corner of the platform is the Golden Elder Stupa. The Maha Wizaya Stupa, built in 1980 to commemorate the unification of Theravada Buddhism in Myanmar, is located southeast of Shwedagon. This part of the city is nicely landscaped and individual houses in their own gardens cover the eastern half of the image.