Rakhine State, lying in the western part of the Union of Myanmar, has an ancient capital city, named Mrauk-U, which was built 500 years ago.

Mrauk-U, is situated in the northern part of the Rakhine State and there are numerous pagodas and stupas.

Among these stupas, the Shitthaung Stupa (a) Yan Aung Zeya Stupa is famous and well-known, for its beautiful, strong and ancient architecture.

There are four distinct eras in Rakhine story. They are Danyawaddy, Waitharli, Laymyo and Mrauk-U eras. Among them, the Mrauk-U era (AD-1430-1785) is the peak era for the Rakhine Culture.

By observing only Maruk-U era, you can learn about, the whole Rakhine culture.

Shitthaung Stupa was built in AD-1535 by the Rakhine King Ba Gyi.

As the Rakhine State has over 200 inches of rainfall annually the stupa was built with sand stones to withstand the weather.

Shitthaung Stupa is located on a small hill in the north of Mrauk-U.

On the roof, there is a main stupa, carved out of stone with 27 surrounding small stupas. They all are in the shape of bells.

Shitthaung Stupa is 160 feet in length, 124 feet in breath, and 86 feet high.

Looking like a maze, from a distance, the 5-storeyed Shitthaung Stupa doesn’t seem that height, because of its architectural design. In spite of being massive, it has a serene look.

The first Buddha image that you will see, when you enter the stupa, is situated in the first cave.

This image, which is curved out of a single stone, is over 7 feet high and it was massively built in a cave of medium height.

In the sitting Buddha image of Mrauk-U era, its eyes are looking downwards with “Bumiphatha” Mudra posture and its right hand is hanging down by its side.

The second cave is squarely surrounded with the first cave, and the third cave surrounds the second one.

So, in order to enter the second cave, you have to enter the third cave first.

If you enter from the left side of the sitting Buddha image, situated in the first cave, you will reach the third cave.

There are many sitting Buddha images in the third cave.

Though the Buddha images are different in sizes they all are distinctive marks of the Mrauk-U period Buddha sculptures such as their heads are hanging downwards, eye-lids are closed and ears are almost touching their shoulders with strong square jaws and broad fore-heads.

The archway way in the third cave is built in such a way that makes the archway very attractive.

Due to the sturdiness of the ancient Rakhine’s meticulous architecture, the Shitthaung stupa stands massively to date with minimum of ruin within 5 centuries, and which in turn reflects the high standard of the ancient Rakhine’s architecture.

There is a room, which you have to pass when you enter the second cave from the third one. When you get in to the second cave from this room, you have to pass through a narrow passage way. And on each side of these passage-way, you will find 28 sitting Buddha images.

The amazing thing when you enter the second cave is that you can never hear any echoing sounds in the cave. This is due to the high architectural look of the ancient Rakhine Architects who installed the good ventilation system in building the cave.

At the end of the inner corridor of the second cave, there is a small chamber.

In this room, you will see many sitting Buddha Images where one of the images is differently dressed in royalty.

It is said that ancient Rakhine Kings use their royal clothes as offerings to the Lord Buddha as they were pledging themselves of rule the country righteously.

And if you come back from the second and third caves, you will reach the fourth cave.

The entrance to the fourth cave is situated by the left of the entrance to the third cave.

And as you enter this cave, you can witness the splendid Rakhine stone sculpture art.

In this fourth cave, you will see, full of stone sculptures on its wall, in size sections.

You will also be able to observe that Buddhism flourished in ancient Rakhine by studying the stone sculptures of the ten Jatakas, of Buddha’s life and 550 life stories of the Lord Buddha.

This sculpture also clearly depicts the social, economy and cultures of ancient Rakhines.

The artistic and incredible sculptures art of these sculptures surely depict the high standard of the ancient Rakhine culture.

Besides these magnificent stone sculptures, you can also witness the stone oil offering cups, 1104 in all.

These stone oil-offering cups were sculptured in stone to offer light to Lord Buddha.

The cave-tunnel, which surrounds the fourth cave-tunnel is the fifth cave-tunnel.

At the forefront of this cave, there are many sitting Buddha images.

One of the images faces is facing outwards while the others are facing inwards.

Their faces are looking downwards, tucking their chins in. These images are of the Mrauk-U era stone sculptures styles and can be seen to this day.

The Rakhine region is situated on the coast of Adaman Sea and the monsoon is quite strong in this area and due to the outstanding and high class ancient Rakhine architectural designs, the 15 century stapus and pagodas can be seen to date.

And that is why, the invaluable ancient Shitthaung Stupa, is rich with Rakhine cultural heritage, and stands high and mighty, and will always serve is a testimony to the greatness and high class of Rakhine architecture.