The Shwenandaw monastery is the most significant of Mandalay’s historic buildings, since this ‘Golden Palace Monastery’ remains the sole major survivor of the former wooden Royal Palace built by King Mindon in the mid-nineteenth century. Originally part of the royal palace at Amarapura, it was moved to Mandalay, and, with the name Mya Nan San Kyaw, became the northern section of the Glass Palace and part of the king’s royal apartments. King Mindon died in this structure in 1878, and his son and successor, King Thibaw, often went there to meditate. He soon became convinced, however, that Mindon’s spirit was haunting the building, and in 1878 he ordered it dismantled and removed from the Royal City. Over the next five years it was reconstructed as a monastery--and dedicated as a work of merit to the memory of King Mindon--on a plot adjoining the Atumashi Monastery near the northeast corner of the Royal City. The rest of the old Royal Palace within the old Royal City (now Mandalay Fort) burned during the latter stages of the Second World War as a result of allied bombing of the Japanese ensconced in the old Royal Palace. King Thibow’s superstition thus had preserved a significant remnant of the Royal Palace. Beautiful carving remains on the building, which is made of teak wood.