Unlike most of Myanmar's regional museums, Mawlamyine's is actually worth a visit, even if the collection isn't huge. It's dedicated to the Mon history of the region, and the exhibits include stelae with Mon inscriptions, 100-year-old wooden sculptures depicting old age and sickness (used as dhamma-teaching devices in monasteries), ceramics, silver betel boxes, royal funerary urns and Mon musical instruments, with most exhibits accompanied by English-language descriptions.
Mon Cultural Museum
Mawlamyine
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
18.92 MILES
This football-stadium-sized cave is simply breathtaking, its entrance dominated by dozens of buddha statues, a couple of pagodas and some newer clay wall…
0.88 MILES
Directly north of Kyaikthanlan Paya and linked by a covered walkway, this is the largest temple complex in Mawlamyine and easily the most beautiful. It’s…
0.72 MILES
Rudyard Kipling’s visit to Myanmar spanned just three days, but it resulted in a poem, 'Mandalay', that turned Burma into an oriental fantasy. It began…
6.28 MILES
Bilu Kyun (Ogre Island) isn’t a hideaway for nasty monsters. Rather, it’s a beautiful island directly west of Mawlamyine. Roughly the size of Singapore,…
12.8 MILES
If you thought you’d seen some big old buddhas, just wait till you get a load of this one. Draped across a couple of green hillsides at Yadana Taung,…
23.24 MILES
Standing proud in the middle of a small, artificial lake is Kyauk Kalap, a tall finger of sheer rock atop which is one of the more unusual pagodas in…
23.63 MILES
The 7th-century artwork of the Kawgun Cave consists of thousands of tiny clay buddhas and carvings plastered all over the walls and roof of this open…
10.38 MILES
The small town of Kyaikmaraw (က်ိဳက္မေရာ), 15 miles southeast of Mawlamyine, is the site of Kyaikmaraw Paya, a temple of serene, white-faced buddhas built…
Nearby Mawlamyine attractions
0.13 MILES
Founded by American Adoniram Judson in 1827, this was the country's first Baptist church. In addition to this place of worship, Judson's legacy also…
0.54 MILES
On the southern spur of the ridge overlooking Mawlamyine, this pagoda was named after a former monk who dreamed of finding gems here, then dug them up and…
0.62 MILES
This temple was built to commemorate U Khanti, the hermit architect of Mandalay Hill fame. U Khanti supposedly spent some time on this hill as well. It’s…
0.72 MILES
This rickety and dilapidated 100-year-old wooden monastery is famed for being the place where King Mindon's Mon queen, Seindon, sought refuge after…
0.72 MILES
Rudyard Kipling’s visit to Myanmar spanned just three days, but it resulted in a poem, 'Mandalay', that turned Burma into an oriental fantasy. It began…
0.88 MILES
Directly north of Kyaikthanlan Paya and linked by a covered walkway, this is the largest temple complex in Mawlamyine and easily the most beautiful. It’s…
1.44 MILES
This long-disused hotel was Mawlamyine's premier place to stay back in the colonial era.