“Bagan is actually a splendid site. You can imagine in only in this, like, fifty square kilometers, they have more than 3,000 monuments. And then all the monuments have different styles and different architecture”.
The ancient past of Bagan, Myanmar, is still visible today in the more than 3,000 temples, monasteries, and works of art and architecture that remain at the site. Beginning around 1000 CE, Bagan served as the capital city of the Pagan Kingdom. Many of the surviving monuments date from the 11th to 13th centuries. A number of these temples are still used by worshippers and pilgrims today. A 2016 earthquake, which damaged over 400 structures, brought renewed international attention to Bagan and its future.
In February 2020, a team from the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) returned from doing intensive preparatory work with international and local colleagues in Bagan to launch a long-term conservation project there. Soon after, the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 closed borders and halted travel. In February 2021, a coup d’état staged by the Burmese Military plunged the country into further uncertainty.
In this episode, Susan Macdonald, head of Buildings and Sites at the GCI, and Ohnmar Myo, the GCI’s consultant in Myanmar, discuss the history of Bagan, the demands and challenges of conservation there, and their hopes for the future of the site. Myo is a former project officer of the Cultural Unit, UNESCO, and was a principal preparator of the report that confirmed Bagan’s World Heritage Site status in 2019. This conversation was recorded in January 2021, under very different circumstances, but it captures the curiosity, ambitions, optimism, and collaborative spirit that guided the project at that time.
We discuss what happens now for the US, Russia and Ukraine after talks between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin. Plus: unrest in the Solomon Islands, Rohingya refugees take on Facebook and the UAE adapts its working week.
This short film by Mercedes-Benz Classic pays tribute to the late Sir Stirling Moss and the 300SLR ‘722’ he and Denis Jenkison won the 1955 Mille Miglia in, ahead of the car’s retirement to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.
And enjoy the behind-the-scenes footage here: https://youtu.be/Y0Tryt1-VHw.
This video is about an overnight stay at the Hotel Rigi Kulm at Vierwaldstättersee near Lucerne. In winter this is a must do in Switzerland. The train ride alone from Vitznau up to Rigi Kulm is an experience. The view of Lake Lucerne is simply breathtaking. The snow-covered trees transform everything into a wonderful fairytale landscape.
Video timeline: 0:00 Start with the Rigi train from Vitznau to Rigi Kulm 7:04 Arrival at Rigi Kulm Hotel – Check in 8:25 Room with a view 9:17 Breakfast swiss style at Hotel Rigi Kulm 9:44 Hiking down with storm Frank
Rigi Kaltbad is a resort in the Swiss Alps, located in the canton of Lucerne. The resort sits on a sunny terrace at an elevation of 1,433 metres, overlooking Lake Lucerne above Weggis in Central Switzerland. The locality is part of the municipality of Weggis.
“The Cloisters, also known as the Met Cloisters, is a museum in Fort Tryon Park in Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City, specializing in European medieval art and architecture, with a focus on the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Governed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it contains a large collection of medieval artworks shown in the architectural settings of French monasteries and abbeys…..”
Hong Kong will develop a new metropolis in its northern part to accommodate 2.5 million people and better integrate itself into the overall development of the country, according to the annual policy address delivered Wednesday by Chief Executive of China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Carrie Lam.
Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta in South China.
Boomers Daily 