The Kuthodaw Pagoda is often referred to as the World’s Largest Book, due to the 730 marble tablets covered on both sides with dense script, comprising the entirety of the Theravada Buddhism canon.

Each tablet stands over 1.5 metres tall and are 12 centimetres thick. When the British annexed Upper Burma in the mid-1880s they looted the temple for the gold ink and gems that decorated the slabs. The writing has now been replaced with black ink and although perhaps not so ornate, the effect is still beautiful.

Guides and proud locals love to tell visitors that if a man was to read the slabs for 8 hours a day, it would take him 6 months to finish.