City (pop., 1993 est.: 885,300, central Myanmar (Burma), situated on the Irrawaddy River .
It is the nation's second largest city, after Yangôn . It was built in 1857 by King Mindon to replace Amarapura as his capital. The last capital of the Myanmar kingdom, it fell to Britain in 1885. It was nearly destroyed during the Japanese occupation in World War II. An important Buddhist religious centre, it is the site of the famous Mahamuni pagoda and of 730 pagodas that house marble tablets inscribed with Buddhist scriptures.