Ancient Bagan temples to have preservation for mural paintings

Data collection work of mural paintings at 416 temples in the Bagan Ancient Cultural region is being carried out to update data base of the pagodas before identifying the factors that damage the centuries old paintings, according to an official from the Department of Archaeology and National Museum (Bagan branch), under the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture.
The current effort started on 11 August this year with the aim of stepping up the preservation work and the department will also enlist the inscriptions in the ancient buildings, U Kyaw Myo Win, the director from the Department of Archaeology and National Museum (Bagan branch) told the Global New Light of Myanmar yesterday.
“We’ll assess how badly the mural-adorned pagodas have been damaged, and which factors for example termites, bats or human damage them. We will find out the root causes before arranging for the preservation measures,” U Kyaw Myo Win explained.
He also said the temples that have mural paintings date back to more than 1,000 years and the paintings become fading or disappearing.
The data collection and record keeping works of mural paintings and inscription will also contribute to the Micro Level Archaeological Risk Map project being implemented for rural development in Bagan’s World Heritage Site. — ASH/TH