From Ruins to Ruined Temples in Myanmar

Monday, 11 September 2006 16:25

BAGAN, Myanmar — The bricklayers are paid $1.35 a day to rebuild the ancient ruin: a small, 13th century temple reduced by time to little more than its foundation.  Myanmar's regime is obliterating a cultural treasure as it `rebuilds' ancient temples to bring in tourists.  Experts are aghast -- and uninvited.

But they have no training in repairing aged monuments, and their work has nothing to do with actually restoring one of the world's most important Buddhist sites.  Instead, using modern red bricks and mortar, they are building a new temple on top of the old.  Known as Monument No. 751, the structure is one of hundreds of new temples that have popped up all over the ancient city of Bagan, which ranks with Cambodia's Angkor temple complex as one of Asia's most remarkable religious sites.  Once the scene of an international rescue effort, Bagan is now in danger of becoming a temple theme park.

The late Myanmar historian Than Tun called the restoration "blitzkrieg archeology".  "They are carrying out reconstruction based on complete fantasy," said an American archeologist who asked not to be identified for fear of being banned from the country.  "It completely obliterates any historical record of what was there."

Myanmar, also known as Burma, is ruled by a military government that has been cut off from the West for more than a decade because of its brutality toward its people.  Since 1988, the generals who run the country have killed thousands of democracy activists and imprisoned thousands more.  Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been detained for nearly 11 of the last 17 years.  The government has been almost as ruthless with its monuments.