King Pagan of the Konbaung Dynasty, who appears to have been a cruel and rapacious King, built the Kyauktawgyi Temple on an island in the Taugthaman Lake in 1847 in imitation of the Ananda temple at Bagan. The exterior is quite similar to the Ananda, but the interior is very different, although the ground plan is the same, the interior lacks the two circumambulatory corridors connecting the four inner shrines, and has only one main Buddha Image.

Inside there are many very fine mural paintings showing temples and pagodas from throughout the Burmese Kingdom. They are unusual and show some Western influence, with an attempt at perspective in many of them. They are shown within a continuous landscape and have many fine cameos of monks, villagers and animals, as well as scenes from everyday life. Above it all the gods play in the sky, keeping watch over the Kingdom below.