It is said that the Shwedagon Pagoda, sitting atop the Singuttara Hill in the heart of Yangon, the largest city of Myanmar, was constructed more than 2600 years ago by the Mon King Okkalapa. According to a mythological story, Tapussa and Bhallika, two merchants from erstwhile Burma, met the Gautama Buddha during their business tour to Bodh Gaya, in India, and he blessed the brothers with eight strands of his hair.

He presented those precious gifts from the Buddha to the king who enshrined them, along with some relics of the three preceding Buddhas of the Gautama Buddha, in a stupa on the Singuttara Hill, the oldest Buddhist stupa in the world. However, research by the archaeologists and the historians indicate that the massive pagoda was first built between the 6th and 10th century AD.

The first mention of the pagoda is found in the royal chronicles of 1362-1363 when the height of the pagoda was raised to 59 feet (18 m) by King Binnya U of the Martaban-Hanthawaddy Kingdom. Later, the Mon Queen Shin Sawbu, the mother-in-law of the Mon King Dhammazedi, the 16th king of the Hanthawaddy Kingdom from 1471 to 1492, raised it to 130 feet (40 m), and also gilded the structure.

By the early 16th century, Shwedagon Pagoda became the most famous Buddhist pilgrimage site in Burma, subsequently renamed Myanmar. However, the pagoda was continued to be patronized by the kings in the following centuries too. King Hsinbyushin of the Konbaung dynasty, who ruled Burma from 1763 to 1776, provided it with its current shape and height of 325 feet (99 m), without the height of the hti, the crown umbrella. He also donated 77 kg of gold in his own weight to gild the exterior and sponsored the creation of a jewel-encrusted hti to crown the shrine. It is interesting to note that following the tradition of the Mon Queen Shin Sawbu, who donated her weight in gold, Buddhist devotees from all over the world donate gold for the maintenance of the Shwedagon and pray for betterment of their lives in the future.

Unfortunately, during the following centuries, it suffered damage several times by earthquakes. The worst happened in 1768 when a severe earthquake toppled the top of the stupa, which was subsequently restored by King Hsinbyushin. Later, after the annexation of Lower Burma by the British, King Mindon Min donated a new hti with a multitude of bells to it in 1871. Much later, in October 1970 an earthquake of moderate intensity put the shaft of the crown umbrella out of alignment, after which extensive repairing and restoration project was undertaken.

Although the same hti remained in place for more than a century, it was removed in April 1999 and replaced with a new one made of stainless steel. However, the displaced hti remained on the complex, preserved on the east side of the pagoda.

The Shwedagon Pagoda is an archetypal Burmese-style Zedi, comprising a typically solid and wide base with terraces, a bell-shaped midsection, followed by what is described as an inverted alms bag, which gradually tapers to a series of rings that gives way to multiple lotus-petal bands topped by a banana bud. The banana bud slowly tapers a tall and tapering spire, capped by a hti, the crown umbrella, encrusted with 5,448 diamonds and 2,317 rubies. There is a flag-shaped vane before the diamond bud, and the diamond bud is tipped with a 76-carat diamond. While the base of the pagoda is made of bricks and covered with gold plates, the main stupa is entirely covered with gold. The terraces above the base are accessible for the monks and the other males.

From the four cardinal directions, there are four entrances, each guarded by a pair of giant leogryphs, a highly stylized lion-like creature, leading to four covered monumental stairways. The stairways lead to the three intermediary terraces or platforms, where the circumambulatory walkways are located, punctuated by Buddhist monasteries, and community lecture and prayer halls. The eastern and southern approaches house several stalls for books, charms, images of Lord Buddha, incense sticks, prayer flags, miniature umbrellas, flowers, and the like. The iconic golden pagoda is sited on the fourth, the uppermost terrace, surrounded by innumerable Buddhist pavilions and shrines, different sizes of bronze bells, and numerous decorative items related to Buddhism.

Like other Buddhist stupas, devotees circumambulate or walk all the way around the pagoda in a clockwise direction, beginning at the eastern shrine that houses a statue of Kakusandha, the first Buddha of the present Kalpa, which is a day of Brahma, the god of creation, an immense period of time reckoned as equivalent to 4,320 million human years. It followed the southern directional shrine, the shrine of Konagamana, and the third shrine at the western direction, that of the third Buddha, Kassapa. The last on the walk is at the northern directional shrine of the fourth Buddha, Gautama.

The Shwedagon Pagoda, the iconic landmark of the country that attracts thousands of devotees and tourists around the world every year, is officially named Golden Dragon Pagoda. Enlisted on the Yangon City Heritage List, it is also known as the Great Dragon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda. The Shwedagon Pagoda Festival, the largest pagoda festival in the country, begins during the new moon of the Tabaung, the 12th and the last month of the traditional Myanmar calendar, which usually falls in March, and continues until the full moon.