The Mandalay Royal Palace, located to the north of the city center is a collection of imposing buildings, with the Glass Palace, seen here in the centre of this photo, being the largest structure.

The eastern entrance, which has a large gold-tipped pyatthat (fig.), is perhaps the most impressing edifice of the 413-hectare palace compound, which is surrounded by a 64 meter wide moat and 4 circa 8 meter high walls (fig.), each 2 kilometers long.

The original palace was constructed, between 1857 and 1859 AD, after King Mindon Min (fig.) founded Mandalay as the new royal capital city, in February 1857, and was the primary royal residence of the last two kings of Upper Burma until 1885 AD.

Mandalay Royal Palace was largely constructed with materials recovered from the palace at Amarapura, which was basically relocated, while the teak logs that were no longer needed, were used to built the U Bein Bridge (fig.).