Date: Dec 24 2004
From: chinaview.cn Myanmar re-building ancient palace in Bagan YANGON, Dec. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- Myanmar is re-building the golden palace of its first ancient empire King Anawrahta in Bagan, northern Mandalay division, in a bid to preserve cultural heritage for posterity and attract tourists. King Anawrahta in 1044 reunified Myanmar, establishing the Bagan empire historically and starting to extensively build Buddhist pagodas and temples to promote and propagate Theravada Buddhism (Little Vehicle). The reconstruction of the Arimaddanapura Bagan Palace is being made at the site approved by historians with facts and evidence through research, according to the Ministry of Culture. In conjunction with the palace project, tourism infrastructures such as a 13-story Nanmyint viewing tower of 60 meters high and 16meters wide attached with a hotel, is also being built. The project is due to complete by next February, said the sources. There are four hotel zones in Bagan made up of 80 hotels, motels and inns with nearly 2,000 rooms which are also being upgraded to serve visitors, it added. According to tourism figures, tourists visiting Bagan have grown annually, attracting more than 60,000 foreign and local tourists this year as of September. Myanmar has been making efforts to have Bagan nominated as its first world cultural heritage site. However, challenges to the nomination exist out of its restoration work carried out on some stupas in the region. The ongoing tower project has been controversial. Myanmar became a signatory to the UNESCO convention in 1994 regarding the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage. Since 1995, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has tried its part to help archaeologists and others with special knowledge of Bagan and its rich legacy of Buddhist architecture in the nomination process which could take many years. Bagan, which stood as an ancient capital from 11th to 13th centuries and Buddhist center with about 10,000 pagodas and religious structures spreading more than 80 square-kilometers, now remains with over 2,000 ruins. Enditem More Burma News from this Month |
Top of Page
|