UNESCO informs Myanmar of ongoing construction tasks in Bagan

UNESCO informs Myanmar of ongoing construction tasks in Bagan
Published 16 June 2020
Zaw Min Naing



YANGON-The UNESCO already informed them of construction tasks such as building fences and paving roads in the ancient city of Bagan, Religious and Culture Minister Thura Aung Ko said at the meeting held in Bagan Archeological Research Museum on June 12th .

The Union Minister also said that the Religious and Culture Ministry was scrutinizing the UNESCO’s report.

Moreover, the locals reported that there had been extended buildings, soil digging by using heavy machinery and truck driving in ancient city Bagan.

Bagan had been approved for inclusion on UNESCO on the World heritage List, more than two decades after it was first nominated.

The 21-member World Heritage Committee announced the decision on July 6 at a meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, based on the recommendation of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).

If the government can’t prevent illegal trespassing, there will be Danger Heritage in Bagan, say some locals and tour guides.

Moreover, repositories of relics of some temples situated in Bagan were robbed during COVID-19 period and rolls of bamboo chick hanged in front of Lawkahteikpan temple were also burnt down.

The Religious and Culture Minister said that Repository robberies were set up at the instigation of politics.

In Bagan, there are over 3,800 pagodas, stupas and temples. Among them, 33 repositories of temples had been robbed.

So,  Bagan Tour Guide Association together with over 100 volunteers and departmental personnel are now carrying out security tasks aiming to prevent against the repositories robbery.

The Bagan Archaeological Zone is one of the country’s principal tourist attractions and is also a popular destination for Buddhist pilgrims, who come to visit the ancient monuments dotted over a 42-square-kilometer plain ringed by mist-covered mountains. The area is home to the largest and densest concentration of Buddhist temples, stupas, and monasteries in the world, with thousands of structures dating to the 10th–14th centuries, when the ancient city was the capital of the Kingdom of Pagan (849–1297).