Dictators "Defacing" Famed Burma Temples: Nat Geographic

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Dictators "Defacing" Famed Burma Temples, Editor Says

TravelWatch
Jonathan B. Tourtellot
National Geographic Traveler
Updated September 3, 2004


The military dictators of Burma (Myanmar) are defacing Pagan's dreamy
field of timeworn medieval Buddhist temples (Traveler, January/February
2004) with a trumped-up "restoration" and improvements more suited in ways
to a recreation center than to one of Southeast Asia's greatest
archaeological heritage sites.

Within the 20 or so square miles (50 square kilometers) known as Pagan
(also spelled Bagan) stand the ruins of more than 2,000 buildings--domed
pagodas, spires, ziggurats--mostly built between the 11th and 14th
centuries.

Archaeologists and historians routinely debate whether to restore ruins
for the benefit of visitors. Many argue that half-tumbled walls left
untouched are moodily evocative and remain available for future study. The
pro-restoration camp contends that while accurate reconstruction disturbs
pristine evidence, it does recreate part of history, for better
understanding and appreciation.

At Pagan, the military junta has done neither. Where the original
architecture is unknown, unskilled restorers often conjure up arbitrary
guesses, dressing up the temples and stupas in new red bricks and
identical spires, with little eye to historic authenticity. The modern
commercial bricks bear no resemblance to the medieval ones. International
restoration experts also complain that the new brick adornments are
slapped atop rickety old walls without reinforcementthis in an earthquake
zone.

Each of the authentic temples typically had its own unique design, but the
junta has crowned the remnants of old foundations with standardized
cookie-cutter models.

In at least one temple, restorers whitewashed over the wall decorations.
In another, a four-armed Vishnu god sprouted six arms. The approach
satisfies Buddhists' desire to gain religious merit by remodeling old
shrines, as well as the government's parochial assumption that all
tourists prefer timeworn buildings that look spiffy and new rather than,
er, timeworn.

Cultural scholars can only weep. "Blitzkrieg archaeology," charged one
Burmese historian, now retired. Restore the Sistine Chapel like this, and
Adam would be sporting tattoos and a nipple ring.

UNESCO, which for 20 years assisted in the conservation of the Pagan
monuments, is not associated with the restoration, their offers of
corrective assistance disregarded by the Myanmar authorities.

What's worse, the junta is now saddling the sacred site with a divided
highway, a golf course (!), and a 200-foot-high (61-meter-high)
observation tower. The tower is already under construction, despite
critics' objections that it is out of scale and visually intrusive.

Myanmar authorities offer the thin excuse that the tower will keep
tourists from climbing on the monuments to get a view. Imagine, it's a
military dictatorship, and they can't keep nitwits off the temples?

Whether to visit repressive Burma at all is a contentious issue, with good
arguments on both sides. But among those who do go, certainly no honorable
traveler or tour company should patronize a tower that despoils a
spiritual and historic site.

The dictators should emulate the wise decision in 2000 to demolish a
similarly intrusive observation tower on the other side of the world. That
307-foot (93.5-meter) eyesore loomed for 26 years over a different kind of
sacred ground: Gettysburg.


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