Maha Bandula Park is a small green square in the heart of downtown Yangon, facing the Sule Pagoda. At its centre stands the Independence Monument — a tall obelisk erected to mark Burmese independence from Britain in 1948 and surrounded by five smaller obelisks representing the unity of Burma's ethnic groups.
The park is a pleasant place to sit during the cooler parts of the day and watch the downtown street life — trishaws, vendors, and city workers moving around the Sule roundabout. Named after Maha Bandula, the Burmese general who fought the British in the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26). The colonial-era City Hall and High Court flank the park on two sides.