State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi has instructed the Culture and Religious Affairs Ministry to refrain from conducting urgent renovations on the 187 ancient Bagan pagodas and temples that were damaged by a 6.8-magnitude earthquake on Wednesday.
State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi has instructed the Culture and Religious Affairs Ministry to refrain from conducting urgent renovations on the 187 ancient Bagan pagodas and temples that were damaged by a 6.8-magnitude earthquake on Wednesday.
President’s Office deputy director general Zaw Htay said Suu Kyi asked the ministry on Thursday to discuss renovations with specialists from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and to make their plans with technical support from the organisation, the Myanmar Times reported on Friday.
Sun Oo, president of the Association of Myanmar Architects, agreed, saying repair work on damaged pagodas should be done carefully and without rushing.
“There is no need to rush heritage renovation,” he said. “The world heritage renovation principles should be followed. First, we must collect data about the damaged pagodas and after we have documented the situation on the ground, we can repair the high-priority pagodas.”
After an earthquake struck Bagan in 1975, more than 600 pagodas were poorly renovated. Shoddy preservation work has been an ongoing barrier to the government’s efforts to have Bagan added to Unesco’s list of World Heritage Sites.
Sun Oo said the next wave of reconstruction requires good leadership.
“We do not want to reduce the value of our heritage sites again due to bad renovation,” he said. “The previous leaders reconstructed as they liked. Bagan is not only for Myanmar heritage but also for world heritage. That is why they should really work with the experts while renovating.”
He would like to see more staff at the Archeology, National Museum and Library Department in Bagan as well as an increased budget. The department has contracted out conservation work in the past, but there have not been enough skillful masons, Sun Oo said.
Starting this year, the Myanmar Tourism Federation (MTF) began collecting entrance fees for the Bagan conservation zone on the basis of a five-year contract, in an agreement with the former culture minister.
According to the agreement between the ministry and the MTF, 90% of the take goes back to the government, 2pc goes toward pagoda conservation and 6pc goes to the federation.
In June, Sun Oo told the Myanmar Times that the amount devoted to pagoda renovation is too small.
While he urged leaders not to rush into renovations, Sun Oo did acknowledge that pagodas that could be destroyed by rain must be protected, given that it is monsoon season.
Some pagodas have been preserved with cement, which cannot hold its weight, causing cracks over time, said Bagan tour guide Zaw Win Cho.
“The parts of the pagodas that were renewed after the 1975 earthquake have been damaged but the ancient bricks have not collapsed,” he said. “That is why if they are renovated as usual, this damage will be repeated whenever there is a natural disaster.”
Of the 187 damaged pagodas, Tayoke Pyay Min is in the worst condition. Its top collapsed and many bricks are cracked, which will be difficult to repair.
