Historic site turning into temple theme park

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 pro-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.

Myanmar is advertised to tourists as the Land of Golden Pagodas. Bagan's largest temples rival the cathedrals of Europe in size and age, but rather than being scattered across a continent, they are concentrated in an area encompassing about 16 square miles.

By some estimates, there were as many as 13,000 temples here during Bagan's peak in the 13th century. Today, the Bagan cultural heritage zone has more than 2,200 temples, along with 2,000 unidentifiable mounds and ruins.

Despite the new construction, Bagan remains awe-inspiring. Climb up on one of the larger monuments and the temples seem to stretch across the dusty plain as far as the eye can see.

No interest in standards

Some of the larger monuments soar as high as 20 stories; many are decorated with tiers of stone spires and ornate carvings. Some of the largest temples house giant statues of Buddha covered in gold leaf, and some still have original frescoes depicting Buddha's life.

Scattered among the large monuments are temples as small as a one-room hut, often with a statue of Buddha inside, and squat, circular pagodas.

Many of the temples were damaged by a major earthquake in 1975. The military government of the time accepted international assistance, and experts from around the world spent years restoring some of the most important temples. Major temples restored after the quake remain in good condition.

Lure of foreign cash

But after a new clique of generals came to power in 1988, interest in upholding international standards for historic preservation vanished. The regime rejected offers of continued foreign assistance and eventually dropped its plan to seek Bagan's designation as a World Heritage site, leaving one of the world's premier archaeological sites without U.N.-protected status.

The government decided instead that turning Bagan, also known as Pagan, into a tourist destination could bring much-needed foreign cash. The generals set about making the archaeological zone more appealing to visitors, particularly tourists from neighboring countries such as China and Thailand that are not so critical of its government. Few Western visitors come to Bagan because of calls by the opposition for a tourist boycott.

One of the regime's first steps was to uproot all 3,000 residents who lived within Old Bagan's historic walls and move them to New Bagan, a few miles south.

"We were very angry," said one man who was 15 when his family had to pick up their small wooden house and move it. "The older people were very sad. We had been there many generations."

Where the homes used to be, the government began building hotels and restaurants. Much of the work was done with forced labor, a form of exploitation for which the regime is notorious.

As in every aspect of society here, decisions on historic preservation are made by generals with no special expertise or training. Government archaeologists say privately they have no choice but to go along.

"If we disagree," one said, "they will send us to prison."

Untrained workers began covering old walls with plaster, obliterating the original contour of the brick. Statues were removed and replaced with no attempt to make accurate copies. The damage has been greatest to the medium-sized temples, many of which were neglected after the earthquake and then damaged by subsequent restoration work, said French architect Pierre Pichard, one of the foremost experts on Bagan.

"The monuments have lost a great part of their authenticity and individuality," said Pichard, who worked extensively at Bagan after the 1975 quake and wrote an eight-volume catalog of the monuments published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. "Their missing parts, especially their upper superstructures, have been rebuilt without evidence of their former shape."

Lure for tourists

The regime also began a building program that is changing Bagan's skyline.

On the eastern edge of the cultural heritage zone, the government recently built a 154-foot observation tower that resembles a grain silo and sits alongside a new resort complex and golf course.

For $10 — two weeks' salary for a teacher here — visitors can take an elevator to the top, have a drink and watch the sun set over the temples.

In Old Bagan, workers have built a massive archaeological museum and have nearly finished a huge palace designed in 19th century Mandalay style — not 12th century Bagan style. Both grandiose structures seem out of place on the plain of temples.