The moat and walls of Mandalay Palace

The moat and walls of Mandalay Palace in Myanmar.

The original teak wood palace, at the foot of Mandalay Hill, was built between 1857-59. It was the residence of King Mindon and King Thibaw, Mandalay’s last two Kings. The Royal family and palace were captured during the third Anglo-Burmese war in 1885. The British turned the compound into Fort Dufferin, named after the then-viceroy of India.

During World War 2 the Japanese used it as a supply depot until it was burned to the ground by allied bombing. The palace was rebuilt in 1989 but while the designs remained faithful to the original, the buildings are concrete with corrugated steel roofing.

The walls form a perfect square, two kilometres along each side and boasting forty-eight bastions with gold-tipped spires. The moat is sixty-four metres wide and 4.5 metres deep.

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