Pyay

Pyay, long known as Prome, stands on the Irrawaddy at an important meeting of upper and lower Burma. Southeast of the town lie the walls and stupas of Sri Ksetra, an ancient Pyu city. Above Pyay itself rises the Shwesandaw Pagoda, revered for a relic of the Buddha. Kings of Pagan and later Burmese rulers repaired and enlarged the shrine, leaving inscriptions and stairways that record generations of patronage.

As the power of Ava weakened in the late fifteenth century, Prome became the centre of a kingdom of its own. Its rulers fought and negotiated with Ava and other neighbours until the expanding Toungoo kingdom captured the city in 1542. Tabinshwehti then made it a provincial centre. In 1754 Alaungpaya seized Prome during his campaigns to reunite Burma; two years later he gilded Shwesandaw and added an umbrella to its spire. The city remained a significant river crossing and religious centre under the Konbaung kings.