UNESCO Fears Destruction of Buddhist Temples in Pagan

June 4, 2005

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4606759.stm

On June 4, 2005 BBC News reported, "The sunsets are still spectacular - a golden glow brushing the curves of 2,000 ancient temples and pagodas clustered on the edge of the Irrawaddy River in central Burma.

But today some of the world's leading experts have accused Burma's military regime of waging 'archaeological blitzkrieg' against the legendary Buddhist treasures of Pagan...

I [the journalist] went to survey the damage, posing as a tourist. Burma is one of the world's most repressive dictatorships and foreign journalists are not welcome.

'We are the richest archaeological site in Asia,' said my guide proudly as we drove around the site in a horse-drawn carriage.

But almost everywhere I saw signs of the 'false' and 'misguided' restoration work which Unesco and other experts have so bitterly condemned."