History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c33.s3.46

v2.c33.s3.46

Belonging to the same century and in its way a remarkable building is the Kyauktaugyî temple at Amarapura, built in 1847 A.D. by King Pagân Min on the model of the Ânanda at Pagân. The illustration (Plate XXXVIII.) shows that the temple is raised a few feet from the ground so as to allow of a broad flight of steps in front of the principal front, and that instead of the two ranges of windows on the ground storey, as in the Ânanda, are lofty doorways which give great importance to the entrances. The five terraces and the sikhara with finial which, with the Htî, crowns the structure are in their proportions and in the simplicity of the mouldings almost equal to those of the Ânanda. It is quite certain that here in England any attempt to copy a cathedral of the same period as the Ânanda in the 11th century, such, for instance, as St Alban’s or Durham, would be a miserable failure compared with the 19th century example of the Kyauktaugyî temple in Amarapura.