Myanmar (2) - Marvel at Bagan

It's a magical place! Who has never seen this slightly magical illustration: hot air balloons flying over a plain from where thousands of stupas seem to rise to the sky?

Welcome to Bagan, the country's archaeological jewel and tourist hotspot. More than 2,000 temples and stupas bear witness to the distant days when Bagan was a thriving imperial capital and spiritual center. Thousands of pagodas, monasteries and stupas were erected between the 10th and 14th centuries. Some estimate their number at 4,000, of which 2,000 are still visible.

While most have fallen into a Sleeping Beauty slumber, others remain high places of religious fervor, like the magnificent Ananda temple of Indian inspiration.

Built in 1091, its tower was entirely gilded some twenty years ago. To see, the guardian spirits and the chimeras that protect the entrances, thousands of enamel plaques recounting the past lives of Gautama, four giant Buddhas and thousands of Buddhas in niches. To discover all the subtleties, it is better to visit it with a good guide.

It is at sunrise and sunset that the magic of the site operates: most of the buildings being built of brick, the sun brings out a magnificent orange color. Inside some temples, paintings essentially evoke the lives of Prince Siddharta Gautama, the Buddha. There are hundreds of Buddhas, giants, small, standing, lying, draped… always directing a benevolent gaze towards the visitors who throng to the site.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Sometimes a natural disaster can be beneficial: after the last earthquake, UNESCO finally undertakes to do everything possible to classify this architectural gem.

If this file was blocked in the past, it was because of the highly controversial renovation work undertaken by the military junta. Fate sometimes doing things well, it was these buildings that were damaged during the earthquake.
Nothing therefore prevents a restoration in the rules of the art followed, Myanmar hopes, by its classification as a World Heritage Site by Unesco.

A little merit

Buddhism is the majority religion in Myanmar. About 90% of the population applies its principles, including gift and virtue. Rituals punctuate the day, the year, allowing everyone to "earn merits" in order to access deliverance.

Very widespread, alms in food made every day with the monks, the offerings with the monasteries (going from the crockery to the 4x4), the application of gold sheets on the statues of Buddha. But you also earn merits by feeding stray dogs, by offering a bicycle to a poor child allowing him to go to school, by filling water jars at the edge of the road to quench the thirst of the workers. Rich families also build temples in order to advance faster on the path of truth.