Built in the mid-19th century; the Shwenandaw Monastery is the sole surviving buiding from the former wooden palace built by King Mindon (r. 1853 - 1878). The king died in this building in 1878.

Mindon's son and heir; King Thibaw (r. 1878 - 1885) believed the building to be haunted by his father's spirit and had it dismantled and reconstructed on the present site close to Mandalay Hill.

Mandalay; a sprawling city of more than 1 million people; was founded in 1857 by King Mindon to coincide with an ancient Buddhist prophecy. It was believed that Gautama Buddha visited the sacred mount of Mandalay Hill with his disciple Ananda; and proclaimed that on the 2;400th anniversary of his death; a metropolis of Buddhist teaching would be founded at the foot of the hill. Pictures From Asia David Henley