Myanmar pagoda re-clad with gold as devotees look to gain spiritual credit

A section of the Sule Pagoda's tower is covered in gold after renovations.

Yangon (AFP) - Teetering on bamboo scaffolding, expert craftsmen are busy attaching blocks of gold to a Buddhist pagoda in downtown Yangon, burnishing one of the city's major landmarks and racking up spiritual credit for devotees.

The five-yearly renovation at the Sule Pagoda sees the monument shed its weather-damaged frontage. It is re-clad in several hundred solid gold plates -- each costing around $1,100 -- and thousands of squares of gold leaf.