The cyclone which hit Burma on May 2nd 3rd, 2008, affected about 2.4 million people. Storm victims are still suffering in the aftermath of the natural disaster with little to no help arriving thanks to a government which has sealed off the country and prohibited the entry of international assistance. And the country’s ancient Buddhist monuments experience the same neglect by the military junta as its people do. In a country with a military dictatorship trampling on its people as much as on its historically valuable monuments, can it be possible to preserve cultural heritage?
One of the holiest sites for Southeast Asia's Buddhists, the 2,500-year-old Shwedagon Pagoda in the former capital Yangon, was badly damaged by the storm. Hundreds of gold-leaf panels were torn off the 98-meter high bell-shaped stupa and 1,000 precious stones fell off. But with the junta concentrating its relief work on the largest city, and not on the much worse affected Irrawaddy Delta area, life at this important pagoda quickly returned to normal without reports on damaged or stolen cultural objects from the Shwedagon Pagoda.
While the Irrawaddy Delta is completely devastated we cannot really tell if there are any archaeological or cultural sites damaged. Very little had been excavated so far, because this region has been considered “low priority for the Department of Archaeology”, according to Donald Stadtner, an art historian specializing in Burma. Large impressive monasteries, which we can find in other parts of the country, housing wood sculptures and manuscript chests, the only things of 'value', are few in the Delta.“And therefore," Stadtner emphasizes, "the little what is known about cultural heritage sites in this area are scores of 15th -16th century kiln sites. But its celadon ceramics are of poor quality compared to Thai ware. And when villagers have discovered kilns in the past, 99% of the material was heavily damaged.”
Burma has also no ancient sites inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Not because they wouldn’t have any sites worth being recognized as such, but because they disqualified themselves from being included in it. Like with the international aid in the cyclone disaster the generals would not accept any foreign help and expertise for conserving their magnificent cultural heritage. The fanciful and unsystematic restorations of monuments carried out in the mid-nineties left international archaeologists in dismay. The calculated disregard of dying people in the delta region this May left the international community speechless, once again. One wonders how a culture can survive without its people, or without its history.
One of the holiest sites for Southeast Asia's Buddhists, the 2,500-year-old Shwedagon Pagoda in the former capital Yangon, was badly damaged by the storm. Hundreds of gold-leaf panels were torn off the 98-meter high bell-shaped stupa and 1,000 precious stones fell off. But with the junta concentrating its relief work on the largest city, and not on the much worse affected Irrawaddy Delta area, life at this important pagoda quickly returned to normal without reports on damaged or stolen cultural objects from the Shwedagon Pagoda.
While the Irrawaddy Delta is completely devastated we cannot really tell if there are any archaeological or cultural sites damaged. Very little had been excavated so far, because this region has been considered “low priority for the Department of Archaeology”, according to Donald Stadtner, an art historian specializing in Burma. Large impressive monasteries, which we can find in other parts of the country, housing wood sculptures and manuscript chests, the only things of 'value', are few in the Delta.“And therefore," Stadtner emphasizes, "the little what is known about cultural heritage sites in this area are scores of 15th -16th century kiln sites. But its celadon ceramics are of poor quality compared to Thai ware. And when villagers have discovered kilns in the past, 99% of the material was heavily damaged.”
Burma has also no ancient sites inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Not because they wouldn’t have any sites worth being recognized as such, but because they disqualified themselves from being included in it. Like with the international aid in the cyclone disaster the generals would not accept any foreign help and expertise for conserving their magnificent cultural heritage. The fanciful and unsystematic restorations of monuments carried out in the mid-nineties left international archaeologists in dismay. The calculated disregard of dying people in the delta region this May left the international community speechless, once again. One wonders how a culture can survive without its people, or without its history.
Source : safecorner.savingantiquities.org
ReplyDeletehttps://unexploredbuddhistmonuments.com/ Buddhism goes beyond religion and is more of a philosophy or 'way of life'. It is a philosophy because philosophy 'means love of wisdom' and the Buddhist path can be summed up as: