Travel Guide Amarapura

Wandering on the dusty tracks of Amarapura, it is hard to believe that it was not always a quiet village, lost in the palm trees. However, Amarapura also experienced royal splendour, twice the capital of the Burmese kingdom, in 1783 for almost 40 years, then again in 1840, until Mandalay was built and abandoned by Mindon. At the advent of its rival, the royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and rebuilt in the fortress of Mandalay, the old capital remaining open to plunder. Even the walls of the fortress were demolished and recovered for the construction of roads and railways. Among the last remnants of the royal city are the Treasury Office and the Archives. Pagodas built at the time of the founding of the city still stand at each corner of the fort. Today, the main attraction remains the U Bein Bridge, the longest teak bridge in the world