 The stupa itself, which is gilded above its terraces, is high, and is modelled after the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U near Bagan.In the grounds of the pagoda are 729 "kyauksa gu" or stone-inscription caves, each containing a marble slab inscribed on both sides with a page of text from the "Tripitaka", the entire Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism.Mindon Min had the pagoda built as part of the traditional foundations of the new royal city of Mandalay in 1857.