 |
H@R! : Heritage at Risk |
 |
Case Study - Pagan
Situated 550 km north west of Yangon, former Rangoon, capital of Myanmar, Pagan was the first unified Burmese dynasty from the 11th to 13th centuries. Pagan is famous for its approximately 3,000 pagodas stretching over more than 100 km2 of land on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River. Pagan is on the national tentative list of World Heritage sites.
The Archaeological Department, Ministry of Culture, Government of Myanmar, is conducting the conservation of heritage in Pagan. Among the monumental structures that are mostly made of brick, there are several monasteries built in teak. Because most of the wooden monasteries were constructed in the 19th century, they are not considered as important as the solid monuments of the Pagan Dynasty. Both monetary and human resources are definitely limited so that some of the remote monasteries are being abandoned and becoming obsolete and deteriorating very rapidly. Pakan-gyi temple and Pakan-ge temple are among these examples. International aid is urgently needed to save these monuments.
Yukio Nishimura, ICOMOS Japan