The nat shrines perched on top of the isolated volcanic plug (all that remains of the central core of an old volcano) at Mount Popa, near Pagan in central Burma. Mount Popa is the holy mountain of the 37 Nats, the pantheon of spirits still worshipped in Burma. Every king between the 4th and 11th centuries made a pilgrimage on his coronation to this site, and the installation at Mount Popa of the presiding nat, Mahagiri, was a ritual part of the re-unification of Pagan under a single ruler.