hidden city hidden object adventure chinese palace

The temple incorporates more than one worldview. Right, a ten-foot-tall statue of the Buddha looms inside Shitthaung temple, built in the 1500s by King Man Pa to celebrate campaigns in eastern Bengal. Left, a sculpture depicting Man Pa, king of ancient Arakan for nearly 20 years. This article is a selection from the December 2019 issue of Smithsonian magazine Buy Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $12 Beginning around 1535, a thousand workers labored for a year to construct the thick, nearly windowless walls, cutting massive sandstone blocks and fitting them together so skillfully without mortar that they still hold together. I’m deep inside a magnificent Buddhist temple in the ruined city of Mrauk U in western Myanmar (formerly Burma), in embattled Rakhine State. A giant sculpted serpent eternally slithers along the base of the wall. I turn a corner and enter a second gallery it’s decorated with bas-reliefs of water buffaloes, elephants, horses, jackals and peacocks. Across the corridor sit hundreds of Buddha miniatures, each sheathed in gilt, resting on black obsidian bases that teeter on two tiers of sandstone. A shaft of natural light at the far end of the passage softly illuminates their serene expressions, broad chests and graceful hands. Fifty figurines of the Buddha, five feet tall and remarkably lifelike, flank one side of the vaulted chamber, eyes cast downward in contemplation, each painted face subtly individuated -broad or slender noses, smiles or frowns, chins pointed or rounded.

In semi-darkness, I make my way down a tunnel-like corridor, treading barefoot on the cold stone floor.

Hidden city hidden object adventure chinese palace