A story on how the Global Heritage Fund is using a satellite network to help monitor heritage sites in Myanmar to create sustainable tourism and long-term returns for local communities.

photo: jmhullot

Protecting Burma’s Heritage from Above
The Irrawady, 14 April 2012

A satellite network watching over Burma’s most revered archaeological sites is being used to help the country develop a sustainable tourism industry and alleviate poverty—but all that could be jeopardized by poor planning management.

About 90 percent of Burma’s population live at or below the poverty line while GDP per capita is the lowest in the region; however the tourist industry could be harnessed to turn that around if key sites are looked after and everything is managed responsibly.

With this in mind, the Global Heritage Fund (GHF) launched its Global Heritage Network (GHN) last year as the world’s first early warning and threat monitoring system. The network uses Google Earth as well as satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe to help experts and local communities keep an eye on heritage sites that are prone to threats such as over-development, shoddy management and looting.

“GHN today is monitoring six sites in Burma, including Bagan and three Pyu Kingdom sites. A new UNESCO programme sponsored by the Italian government will provide two years funding of US $800,000 for developing UNESCO World Heritage plans and nominations with the Burmese government,” said Jeff Morgan, the executive director of GHF.

“We expect the opening of Burma to enable better international expertise to be implemented in heritage conservation and responsible development,” he added.

Full story here.

An article on BBC travel about Mrauk-U, the capital and centre of the Arakan kingdom from the 15-18th centuries.

photo: Zero-X

Ancient Burma’s playful side
BBC Travel, 19 March 2012

The atmosphere of a ruin fuels the imagination, and no ruin is as “alive” as Mrauk U, where goat herders and radish farmers still live and work amid the 700 temples. From 1430 to 1784, the city served as the capital of the Rakhaing people – an ethnic group still in the area. Per some fanciful depictions, Rakhaine emperors, surrounded by Japanese samurai bodyguards, built a skyline of skyscraper-tall towers connected with air bridges.

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It is moments like these that link the site to Angkor Wat, a expanse of ruins in varying states that can feel like entering a dreamy film set. The difference is Mrauk U is not only historical site. Here, the ruins are merely a backdrop to everyday life. Streams of young women fill tin pots at temple-side wells and take short cuts over cracked pagoda steps to farms sandwiched between 500-year-old stupas. Elders crouch below trees, amid smoking refuse piles and goat herds. One man I met, sitting in a meditative pose by a ruined city wall, told me his name was the “Divine Protector of Buddha”. And I found no reason to doubt him.

Full story here.

The opening up of Myanmar means more money and more tourists coming in, which means more development – which in turn means the once-grand colonial-era buildings may have to make way for newer ones. The tourism industry is expressing a desire to protect some of these colonial neighbourhoods so that they may be kept as tourism products.

Myanmar Times, 19-25 March 2012

Tourism sector urges protection of colonial sites
Myanmar Times, 19-25 March 2012

Historic Yangon cityscape thrown a lifeline
Myanmar Times, 19-25 March 2012

Colonial-era buildings are a valuable resource for the tourism sector and a major attraction for visitors to the city, tourism experts said last week.

Many in the industry are supportive of the push for preservation but also point out the need for regulations that ensure renovation work on historical sites is tasteful.

Freelance tour guide U Zaw Lynn said he believed that preserving neighbourhoods, rather than just individual buildings, was important and that any preservation strategy would have to fit into a viable city-wide development plan to be effective.

“Although colonial buildings have great architectural value, their appearance can be diminished by nearby buildings that do not reflect the historical value of the building,” he said.

Full story here.

UNESCO will soon launch a project at Sri Ksetra to help with the training of staff at Sri Ksetra in Myanmar.

UNESCO to support Sri Ksetra project
Myanmar Times, 20-26 February 2012

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation plans to launch its first cultural project in Myanmar in 10 years, a senior official said last week.

The capacity-building project aims to develop knowledge of preservation techniques and management of government staff at the Pyu city of Sri Ksetra in Bago Region.

The Italian government has contributed 400,000 euros (US$526,000) to the 12-month project, which has been designed in close collaboration with the Ministry of Culture’s Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library.

UNESCO assistant director general for culture Mr Francesco Bandarin said in a statement that Myanmar faced a “huge” task to preserve its rich cultural heritage and the project would raise awareness and technical capacity for restoring and managing cultural heritage sites.

It will build up capacity in three priority areas, including conserving and managing heritage sites, establishing cultural heritage information management system using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and nominating World Heritage sites, according to UNESCO.

Full story here.

Recent excavations at Sri Ksetra in Myanmar have uncovered the remains of an unusual building – a brick structure containing burial urns and a well.

New find at Pyu dig
The Myanmar Times, 09-15 January 2012

Excavation work at an archaeological site near Phayarma Pagoda at Sri Ksetra has uncovered a building unlike any other found at the ancient Pyu city, government officials say.

Excavation on the site began in early September and has been led by the Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library under the Ministry of Culture. The remains of a brick structure 14 metres long, 11m wide and 1.3m high were discovered near Phayarma pagoda at Sri Ksetra, located near Pyay in western Bago Region.

The structure was found to hold 25 pots containing burial urns. It also had a well, 75 centimetres in diametre, and the baked floor of the structure is thought to have been regularly exposed to fire when the building was in use. However, little else is known about it at present.

Full story here.

photo credit: Victor SCY

Suu Kyi criticizes restoration of Burma temples
AP, via Asian Correspondent, 12 July 2011

Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday decried restoration work on Burma’s centuries-old Bagan temples for not meeting international standards.

Burma’s application in 1996 for World Heritage status for the temples was rejected by the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO because the restoration did not use original designs and materials.

“It’s so sad to see that the temples are not properly restored. Restoration of the temples is not up to international standards,” Suu Kyi told reporters Monday.

Her visit to Bagan last week was her first trip out of Yangon since being released from house arrest last year.

Bagan, also known as Pagan, has more than 2,800 monuments built between the 10th and 14th centuries. The central Burma site is considered one of Southeast Asia’s major historical landmarks, with Cambodia’s Angkor Wat and Indonesia’s Borobodur temple.

Full story here.