Heritage Trails :: Balestier Trail :: Maha Sasana Ramsi Burmese Buddhist Temple

Founded by U Kyaw Gaung, a Burmese practitioner of traditional medicine, the temple was founded in 1921 when he brought to Singapore a 10-tonne, 11-feet high marble sculpture of the Buddha from Saygin Hill, a quarry north of Mandalay.

The sculpture was placed in the temple’s original location at 17 Kinta Road, off Serangoon Road and was only moved to its current location on Tai Gin road in 1990. Today, descendents of U Kyaw Gaung still live in Singapore and continue to be the trustees of the temple.

During Buddhist holidays and Burmese festivals, the temple sees a large congregation of the Burmese community in Singapore. There is a fair and celebration in the temple during the Burmese New Year, Thingyan (around April each year). However, the unofficial “Little Burma” in Singapore lies in the civic district. The usual congregation place for the Burmese community is at Peninsula Plaza where there is a supermarket, shops selling Burmese products and even a restaurant with menu in the Burmese language.