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Architecture

Individual Documents

Title: Hort der weissen Elefanten und feldgrünen Könige
Date of publication: 05 January 2011
Description/subject: Vor fünf Jahren überraschte Burmas enigmatische Militärjunta mit der Ankündigung, im dünn besiedelten Landesinnern eine neue Hauptstadt zu bauen. Entstanden ist ein steriles Nebeneinander von Ministerien, Hotels und Wohnblöcken.
Language: Deutsch, German
Source/publisher: NZZ Online
Date of entry/update: 27 January 2011


Title: Tiffin Time Again
Date of publication: January 2006
Description/subject: Government involvement helps restore shine to Rangoon's Strand Hotel... "Rangoon is a picture book of architectural gems from the years of British colonialism. But visitors have a frustrating time discovering them. The city streets so carefully planned and built in the mid-19th century have been allowed by neglectful Burmese post-colonial governments to fade and crumble. Layers of soot and grime accumulated over the years make it difficult to detect exquisite art nouveau and solid Victorian and Edwardian features of buildings that, in their time, would not have looked out of place in bourgeois areas of London..."
Author/creator: Jim Andrews
Language: Engllish
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 14, No. 1
Format/size: html
Date of entry/update: 01 May 2006


Title: Secrets of a Shan Palace
Date of publication: May 2005
Description/subject: Does a protective curse prevent the regime from pulling it down?... Yawnghwe Haw, the large wood and brick palace of Burma’s first president, Sao Shwe Thaike, near Inle Lake in southern Shan State, has survived the ravages of Burma’s turbulent history—unlike its ill-fated former occupant, who died in jail. Some suggest that the palace owes its survival to a protecting curse on anyone daring to pull it down. That was the fate of the famous Shan palace Haw Sao Pha Kengtung, demolished by the Burmese military junta in 1991. Now known as Yawnghwe (Nyaungshwe) Haw Museum, Sao Shwe Thaike’s palace has undergone superficial renovation to repair damage caused by years of neglect, when squatters occupied outbuildings and graffiti was scrawled on some of the walls. The exhibits themselves have been catalogued and explained by the museum’s curators with only a cursory nod to historical fact. Built in the Mandalay tradition and completed in the late 1920s, Yawnghwe Haw is a fine example of Shan palace architecture, though perhaps not as impressive as the demolished Haw Sao Pha Kengtung. The museum’s collection contains precious and beautiful artifacts—elaborate royal thrones, teak tables, divans, sedans and palanquins. Also included are numerous costumes belonging to the Shan sawbwas, or rulers, from Yawnghwe as well as Kengtung..."
Author/creator: Tara Monroe
Language: English
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 13, No. 5
Format/size: html
Date of entry/update: 27 April 2006


Title: Remaking Rangoon
Date of publication: July 2003
Description/subject: "Rangoon’s modernization drive in preparation for the 2006 Asean Summit is destroying the capital’s architectural heritage... A house of teak and brick in Botataung Township in Rangoon is being razed to make way for a taller, more modern skyscraper. The house was full of charm at the turn of the 20th century, and was one of many buildings that earned the Burmese capital the reputation as the "Pearl of the Orient". "My house was beautiful and in good condition considering it was nearly 100 years old," said the 50-year-old owner, as he watched his home being demolished. But now he is more pragmatic than sentimental. "As the new ones are coming, the old ones have to go," he added. In the first half of the last century Rangoon was a model for other Southeast Asian cities. Famed for its many buildings of religious, historical and architectural significance, the city was a hybrid of colonial charm and unique Burmese splendor. The great traditional houses of the city were built from teak, with grand spired roofs, decorated eaves and crafted paneling. But now much of that has been thrown into the dustbin of history..."
Author/creator: Kyaw Zwa Moe
Language: English
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 11, No. 6
Format/size: html
Date of entry/update: 06 November 2003


Title: THE ART AND CULTURE OF BURMA (Table of Contents)
Date of publication: 2002
Description/subject: "The purpose of this on-line study-guide and course-outline is to make text and visual materials on the arts of Burma readily and inexpensively available, in particular to students and teachers. These materials assume college level reading skills so that the contents may be used for independent study courses, as a resource for teachers in secondary schools, as well as anyone interested in expanding and enriching their knowledge of the Arts and Cultures of Burma. Because the text is written for a general audience it does not contain the detail or footnotes that are found in scholarly publications. A select bibliography is provided at the end of each section for those who wish to pursue topics previously discussed. The illustrations are digitized from my own collection of color slides with the several exceptions are noted..." TOC: Overview: Purpose, Extended Contents, Acknowledgements, and Geographical Overview; Art History of Burma: Synoptic Overview; Chapter 1 - Prehistoric and Animist Periods c. 1100 BC to c. 200 AD: Paleolithic and Neolithic sites, Animism, and Karen Bronze Drums; Chapter 2 - The Pre-Pagan Period: The Urban Age of the Mon and the Pyu c.200 to c.800 AD: Mon and Pyu City states: Thaton, Beikthano, Halin, and Srikshetra; Chapter 3 - the Pagan Period c. 800 AD to 1287 AD; Part 1 - Introduction and City Plan of Pagan; Part 2 - Architecture 1 - General Characteristics and Stupas; Part 3 - Architecture 2 - Temples and Monasteries Part 4 - Sculpture, Conclusion, and Bibliography; Chapter 4 - The Post Pagan Period; Part 1 - Introduction and the Ava Period; Part 2 - The Konbaung Period: Amarapura; Part 3 - Mandalay Period; Special Section: 80 Scenes of the Life of Buddha.
Author/creator: Richard M. Cooler
Language: English
Source/publisher: Northern Illinois University
Format/size: html
Date of entry/update: 03 June 2003


Title: THE ART AND CULTURE OF BURMA - Chapter 3: The Pagan Period. Part 2 - Architecture 1 - General Characteristics and Stupas
Date of publication: 2002
Description/subject: "Stupas are solid structures that typically cannot be entered and were constructed to contain sacred Buddhist relics that are hidden from view (and vandals) in containers buried at their core or in the walls. Temples have an open interior that may be entered and in which are displayed one or more cult images as a focus for worship. Although this categorization between Stupa and temple is useful, the distinction is not always clear. There are stupas such as the Myazedei that have the external form of a stupa but are like a temple with an inner corridor and multiple shrines..."
Author/creator: Richard M. Cooler
Language: English
Source/publisher: Northern Illinois University
Format/size: html
Alternate URLs: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/burmese/Cooler/BurmaArt_TOC.htm (Table of Contents)
Date of entry/update: 03 June 2003


Title: THE ART AND CULTURE OF BURMA - Chapter 3: The Pagan Period. Part 3 - Architecture 2 - Temples and Monasteries
Date of publication: 2002
Description/subject: "... Pagan temples may be divided into two basic types according to floor plan: one type has an open central sanctuary and the other has a solid core that is ringed by a corridor. The two types, however, were at times combined in a single structure in which the solid core was hollowed out to create a sanctuary that was then encircled by a corridor..."
Author/creator: Richard M. Cooler
Language: English
Source/publisher: Northern Illinois University
Format/size: html
Alternate URLs: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/burmese/Cooler/BurmaArt_TOC.htm (Table of Contents)
Date of entry/update: 03 June 2003


Title: Text and New Contexts: Shwedagon and Kyaikhtiyoe today
Date of publication: December 2001
Description/subject: "Texts and Contexts", December 2001 Conference, Universities' Historical Research Centre, Yangon University... Abstract: The paper discusses the use of texts in current renovation of pagodas in Myanmar, taking as examples aspects of work undertaken at the Shwedagon and Kyaikhtiyoe in the last two years. Different types of texts, from inscriptions and traditional accounts to contemporary technical reports, are used to illustrate the complex tradition found in the country today. These are presented in the context of past interaction including Mon influence and the Hsandawshin (Sacred Hair) heritage, as well as present links such as planetary aspects and the role of renovation in encouraging the sustenance of Theravada practice.
Author/creator: Elizabeth Moore,
Language: English
Source/publisher: Myanmar Historical Research Journal, University of Yangon [forthcoming]
Format/size: pdf (747K)
Date of entry/update: 03 June 2003


Title: The Mandalay Palace
Date of publication: 1963
Description/subject: Mandalay Palace - Historical Sites; Mandalay - Description and Travel; Mandalay - History; Myanmar - History - Later Konbaung Period; Contents: (1) Foundation of the Palace and City p. 10-15; (2) The City's Defensive Walls p. 16-19; (3) Building outside the palace platform p. 22-24; (4) The Buildings within the palace platform p. 25-35; (5) Appendix - Kings of the Alaungpaya Dynasty p. 37; This book was published with the grant of 1962 Asia; Foundation. Text by Mon C. Durosielle former Superintendent of the Directorate of Archaeological Survey. Supplemented with thirty one plates of photographs, plans and measured drawings of the palace structures and architectural motifs as preserved in the Archaeological Department.
Author/creator: Mon C. Durosielle
Language: English
Source/publisher: The Directorate of Archaeological Survey
Format/size: PDF (3.84MB) 57pages
Alternate URLs: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Zh_zzAF5zUgJ:https://www.myanmarisp.com/ABR/Ma...
Date of entry/update: 10 July 2010