Photo by Michael Yamashita yamashitaphoto / A troubling new dawn in Myanmar: Bagan is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of Myanmar's most popular tourist and pilgrimage sites. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Pagan Kingdom that unified the regions that would later constitute Myanmar. During the kingdom's height, between the 11th and 13th centuries, more than 10,000 Buddhist temples and pagodas were constructed in the Bagan plains alone, and over 2,200 survive. "Temples of gold” is how Marco Polo described them in his travels: “…and when they are lighted up by the sun they shine most brilliantly and are visible from a vast distance.” The age and majesty of these gold-plated temples are reminders that despite current troubling political upheavals, Myanmar is an ancient land that has prevailed throughout ever-shifting alliances and wars for hundreds of years. #bagan #myanmar #bagansunrise #worldheritage