A Burmese farmer drives his ox-cart past the brick, Mon-style pagoda of Myebontha, Pagan, seen from Thatbyinnyu pagoda. At the height of its power between 1050 and 1290 AD, the former capital of Pagan had 13,000 religious buildings spread over 40 square kilometers of plain bordering the east bank of the Irrawaddy river in central Burma.