A man kneels in prayer beneath a bronze bell at Shwedagon Pagoda. The previous centerpiece bell at the pagoda - a reputedly 290-tonne copper-and-gold masterpiece - was stolen by an invading Portuguese warlord in the early seventeenth century. However, the massive bell proved too heavy for his river vessels during evacuation through a confluence of the Yangon and Bago rivers. The boat collapsed under the bell's weight, and the masterpiece sank to the river bottom. It remains submerged there to this day.