Shwesigon Pagoda to be gilded

NyaungU December 2

Shwesigon Pagoda, a famous pagoda in NyaungU Township, will be offered gold plates and gold foils, according to the Shwesigon Pagoda Board of Trustees.

Inverted lotus flower, spreading lotus flower and ring of spherical bosses will be offered with 1,635 gold plates and the remaining parts will be offered with gold foils. It will be cost a total of Ks-3,000 million. 

The value of a gold plate, which has the weight of one and a half tickles, is Ks-1,200,000.

At present, 21 winners, who tendered for the job at a price of Ks-38,000 per gold foil, have been chosen to offer gold foils to the ovolo mouldings and bell-like part.

Shwesigon Pagoda was last offered gold foils in 2008.

Shwesigon Pagoda was built to enshrine one of the four replicas of the Buddha tooth in Kandy, Sri Lanka, and it was to mark the northern edge of the city. The other three tooth replicas were enshrined in other three more pagodas: Lawkananda Pagoda, Tan Kyi Taung Pagoda and Tu Yuan Taung Pagoda. (447)

The Myawady Daily