Burmese monk in meditation on the octagonal terrace, which is restricted to male worshippers. of the Shwedagon Pagoda, Rangoon. The 300-foot golden pagoda, the most sacred in the country, is plated with 8,688 slabs of solid gold, and the tip of its spire, set with 5,448 diamonds and 2,317 precious stones — rubies, sapphire and topaz — is set with a huge emerald to catch the first and last rays of the sun.