355. Façade of the King’s Palace, Burmah. (From a Sketch by Col. Yule.)
The general appearance of the façade may be realised from the annexed view ([Woodcut No. 355]); but its real magnificence consists in the profusion of gilding and carving with which every part is covered, and to which it is impossible to do justice on so small a scale.
The same profuse decorations are bestowed upon the monasteries, one of which is represented in the annexed woodcut (No. [356]), showing a building in which all the defects arising from the use of so easily carved a material, are carried to excess. If the colouring and gilding could be added, it would represent a building such as the West never saw, and, let us hope, never will see; for, however dazzling its splendour, such barbaric magnificence is worthy only of a half-civilized race.
356. Burmese Kioum. (From Col. Symes’ ‘Embassy to Ava.’)
The naked form of these monasteries—if the expression may be used—will be understood from the following woodcut (No. [357]) of one recently erected at Mandalé, and, though inhabited, not quite finished. It is five storeys in height, and, if I mistake not, as nearly reproduces the Lowa Maha Paya of Anuradhapura, as the circular Mengûn pagoda does the Abhayagiri or Ruanwelli dagobas there. Here, however, the storeys have lost their meaning; only one storey is used as a residence[585]—the first, or “piano nobile,” as we would call it. The upper storeys are only ornamental reminiscences of past utilitarian forms, but which evidently once had a meaning. Had the building been completed—perhaps it is now—it would have been ornamented with carving as richly as that represented in the preceding woodcut, for it is one of the advantages of wooden architecture, that its decorative features may be added after the fabric is practically complete in all essential points.