When you reached Bagan, you are trip will be more satisfactory only when you have to go and view the Bagan Archaeological Museum.

The Bagan Archaeological Museum is situated within old Bagan city to the South West closed to the Gadotpalin Pagoda not only grand in a imposing but also adorned inside and outside with Myanmar decorated art.

You enter the Museum, you will first view head statue of four famous Kings of Bagan period namely Anawyahta, Kyansitthar, Alaungsethu and Kjaswa and large three dimension of mural painting on the wall depicted.

Bagan Archaeological Museum, you can view arts and crafts, stone inscriptions, painting depicted the social life and Military matters and weapon model of Bagan period in the respective displayed rooms.

You can also view paintings of Pagodas, Buddha Images with different posture of Mudra made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, wood etc., all the first floor.

Among them, you can see the major bronze lotus Bud a master piece of bronze sculpture of Bagan period and the eleven century AD Buddha statue of Pjinsalawhar meaning a compound of five intelligence namely gold, silver, bronze and legatee.

Actually, all of these exhibit displayed in Bagan Archaeological Museum are witnessing high great the Myanmar culture standard work.

Just a few yards from Ananda, there is Ananda Oake temple. The building was a residence for monks. It is considered a unusual piece of art because the whole structure is made of fine workmanship demonstrate the life of the ordinary people but seem to have been painted in 18th century A.D.

One of the most excellent, largest and best preserved of the Bagan temples, the Ananda suffered considerable damage in the earthquake and in 1979 reconstruction took place. Built in 1091 by Kyanzittha, the temple is said to represent the endless wisdom of the Buddha. The central square has sides of 53 meters (175 feet) and rises in terraces to a hit 51 meters (168 feet) above the ground. In the centre of the cube, four standing Buddha’s, nine and a half meters (31 feet) high, represent the four Buddha’s who have attained Nirvana.

Only those facing north and south are original, the east and west facing images are replacements for the figures destroyed by fires. The base and the terraces are decorated with a great number of glazed tiles showing scenes from the Jataka. In the western sanctum, there are life size statues of the temple's founder and his Primate, while in the west porch there are two footprints of the Lord Buddha, on pedestals.

Bu Phaya Pagoda has been claimed to be the oldest in Bagan. It situated right on the bank of the Ayeyarwaddy, dating from the 3rd century AD. It was completely destroyed when it tumbled into the river in the 1975 earthquake, but has been totally rebuilt.

Dammayangyi Temple is the biggest of the kind built by King Narathu. The donor killed his own father and brother for the throne and was notorious for his cruelty to his subjects. His workers left his work unfinished when the King was assassinated by Indians.

The huge structure of the temple contains interesting puzzles like a labyrinth or a maze. There are two corridors running parallel but only the outer corridor provides access. The inner corridor is a dead end and has no entry.

Dhammayazika Pagoda was recognized in September 1198 by King Narapati Sithu. On the stone tablets of the Pagoda, the name was fixed as Dhammayazaka.

At first glance looking much like the famous Shwezigon, the Dhammayazika is unusual because it has pentagonal veranda instead of the usual square ones. Above the three receding terraces, which are decorated with glazed Jataka plaques raises a bell-shaped dome, which merges directly into a sharply tapering conical finial.

On each of the five sides of the pagoda there is a small temple. The temples themselves are of the usual form, square in plan, with a porch for entrance, and surmounted by terraces and a rounded spire.

Gawdawpalin Temple, 13th century temple is like Thatbyinnyu, about 60 metres high with a fine view of the Bagan plains.

Kyaukgu umin or Kyaukgu cave tunnel is famous for its significant location and structure. Unlike most of the cave and pagodas of Bagan , it was built on a vertical side of a narrow valley with caves for prayers and thought.

Large sandstones carved to make the doorway and the pillars are extremely beautiful. A large image of Buddha is also seated on the carved stone. The temple is said to be of 11th century work.

The Lawkananda Stupa is believed to have been built in 1059 by King Anawratha. It is located on a promontory above a small bay in the east bank of the Ayeyarwaddy that probably served as a port for Bagan and marked the southern extent of the city.

Today, the structure displays a columnar bell with vertical sides resting upon three octagonal terraces, two of which are connected by a short staircase. The exterior decoration or this stupa has been repeatedly refurbished and changed over time and has recently been encased in gilded metal plaques.

This temple is one of the rare types of temples where stone was widely used. Though the main structure is brick, soft sandstone was also added for aesthetic purposes. With perforated windows and carved stone relief, Nanpaya Temple is an example of workmanship from the early Bagan period.

The Nathlaung Kyaung located slightly to the west of Thatbyinnyu and inside the old city walls, is the only remaining Hindu temple in Bagan. It was possibly built by famous King Taungthugyi about a century before King Anawrahta brought Theravada Buddhism to Pagan with the conquest of Thaton. Paul Strachan, however, argues that it may have been built as late as the reign of Awawrahta. It clearly is one of the earliest of the Bagan temples.

The several names given to the temple, as Strachan argues, indicate the religious struggle that ensued between Vaishnavite Hindu ideas and the southern Buddhist tradition that made its appearance with Anawrahta, though there apparently was a tolerance as the temple was not razed. Most Burmese use the name given above, which may be translated as “Shrine Confining the Devas.” To Hindu devotees it was Nat-daw-kyaung, or the “Shrine of the Sacred Devas.” Another version, Nat-hlè-kyaung, or ”Shrine of the Reclining Deva,” suggests that perhaps there originally was such a statue inside.

This square temple with steep-rising upper terraces is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, and was perhaps built by Indian artisans brought into Bagan to work on other temples. Strachan suggests that, since it uses the Pyu brick building tradition followed in Bagan architecture, it was built by indigenous artisans of Bagan. It clearly was the temple of the Indian merchant community and Brahmans in the service of the king and was originally not only a place of worship, but also as a sculpture gallery.

Of the original temple complex only the superstructure and main hall remain, as the entry hall and other structures have disappeared. The high mandapa, or plinth or porch that extends from the temple, was the gift of a Malabar Vaishnavite saint in the 13th century; it is the only mandapa in Bagan and originally would have been covered by a wooden hall or awning. Considerable repair was done in 1976, as can be seen in the second story and the sikhara , or upper part of the finial.

Originally there were 10 avatars, past and present incarnations of Vishnu, housed in niches in the outer walls; seven survive. In the late nineteenth century a German oil engineer took the large Vishnu figure that was standing on the mythical garuda; it now is in Berlin’s Dahlem Museum.

Shwegugyi Temple is built by Alaungsithu in 1311, this temple is an early example of a transition in architectural styles which resulted in airy, lighter buildings. The temple is also famous for its fine stucco carvings and for the stone slabs in the inner wall which tell its history, including the fact that its construction took seven months.

King Anawrahta built this graceful stupa. The pagoda bell rises from two octagonal bases, which top the five square terraces. The upper terrace of Shwesandaw Pagoda has become a popular sunset-viewing spot.

Following his conquest of Thaton, Anawrahta built this very graceful circular pagoda in 1057. The five terraces once had terra-cotta plaques showing scenes from the Jataka. The pagoda bell rises from two octagonal bases, which top the five square terraces. Close to the Shwesandaw stands the Lawkahteikpan Temple - small but interesting for its excellent frescoes and inscriptions in both Myanmar and Mon.

Shwezigon Pagoda is is done with gold and the Shwezigon derives its name from Jeyyabhumi, "Ground of Victory". Two great kings, noted for their patronage of the Religion, are associated with the Shwezigon: Anawrahta (1044-1077) and Kyansittha (1084-1113).

Tradition has it that the holy tooth, collar-bone and frontlet relics of the Buddha are enshrined in the Shwezigon, the tooth presented by the King of Ceylon, the frontlet obtained from Thayekhittaya near modern Prome. The history tell that Anawrahta placed the frontlet relic on a jeweled white elephant and, making a solemn vow, said, "Let the white elephant kneel in the place where the holy relic is fain to rest!" And it was there, at the place where the white elephant knelt, that Anawrahta built the Shwezigon, although he was to finish only the three terraces before he died.

The records go on to narrate that on the accession of Kyansittha, the royal teacher Shin Arahan urged him to complete the Shwezigon. Kyansittha then marshalled all his people and quarried rock from Mount Tuywin in the east to build the pagoda.

Wonderfully, the pagoda was finished in seven months and seven days, and the history record with some pleasure, "Shwezigon is famous in the world of men and the world of spirits as far as the world of Brahmas."This golden pagoda was the first monument built in the Myanmar style, the prototype for later pagodas. It was first built by King Anawrahta and completed by King Kyansittha in 1087. ‘Nat’(spirit) image can be found within its area.

Sulamani or “small ruby” consists of two stories, each of which is square, with porches on all four cardinal sides.

The eastern veranda is extended to serve as the main entrance. Both stories have receding terraces. On the ground floor, a vaulted corridor runs around the central mound of solid brickworks. Buddha images are seated there facing each of the cardinal points.

The inner walls were once decorated with paintings but except for a few patches of ink painting, no trace of great artistic value remains after years of abandonment.

The entrance of the heritage of Bagan special show is decorated with the model of a Therapa gate. The Therapa gate is well known for its architectural design and it is the only one entrance gate for ancient capital city Bagan.

The highest temple in Bagan, the "omniscient" temple rises to 61 meters (200 feet) and was built by Alaungsithu around the mid-12th century. Repairs to earthquake damage were being completed in 1979. Slightly south-west of the Thatbyinnyu in a monastery compound there is stone supports which once held the temple's huge bronze bell. North-east of the temple stands a small "tally pagoda" which was built of one brick for every 10,000 bricks used in the main temple.

Pitakat Taik, Following the sack of Thaton, King Anawrahta carted off 30 elephant loads of Buddhist scriptures and built this library to house them in 1058. It was repaired in 1738. The architecture of the square building is notable for the perforated stone windows and the plaster carvings on the roof in imitation of Myanmar wood carvings.