Mingalazedi Pagoda is a Buddhist

Theravada

Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...

 stupa

Stupa

A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the remains of Buddha, used by Buddhists as a place of worship....

 located in Bagan

Bagan

Bagan , formerly Pagan, is an ancient city in the Mandalay Region of Burma. Formally titled Arimaddanapura or Arimaddana and also known as Tambadipa or Tassadessa , it was the capital of several ancient kingdoms in Burma...

, Burma. It was built in 1284 during the reign of King Narathihapate

Narathihapate

Narathihapate was the last king of Pagan dynasty of Burma from 1254 to 1287. The king is unkindly remembered for two things: his gluttonous appetite which supposedly required all his dinners to have 300 varieties of dishes; and his panic flight from Mongol invasions. He is forever remembered as ...

. The pagoda is one of few temples in Bagan with a full set of glazed terra cotta

Glazed architectural terra-cotta

Glazed architectural terra-cotta is a ceramic masonry building material popular in the United States from the late 19th century until the 1930s, and still one of the most common building materials found in U.S. urban environments...

 tiles depicting the Jataka

Jataka

The Jātakas refer to a voluminous body of literature native to India concerning the previous births of the Buddha....

. The pagoda was built in brick and contains several terraces leading to large pot-shaped stupa at its centre, topped by a bejewelled umbrella (hti

Hti

Hti is the name of the umbrella or top ornament found in almost all pagodas in Myanmar. They have been found in pagodas constructed by all four of the pagoda building ethnic groups of Myanmar: the Mon, the Bamar, the Rakhine and the Shan....

). Mingalazedi Pagoda was built a few years before the First Burmese Empire (Pagan Kingdom) was pillaged by the Mongols

Mongol Empire

The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...

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