Pagan is Burma's foremost historical site and was the capital of the first dynasty to unify the country, between the 11th and 13th centuries AD. It also ranks as one of the world's most spectacular and important Buddhist sites, containing more than 2000 religious monuments spread over an area of 16 square miles. This is the first of nine volumes of an inventory arising from a project sponsored by UNDP/UNESCO and with the co-operation of the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient, involving the collection of data for 2260 monuments, each of which was surveyed, drawn and photographed in detail. Several pages are devoted to each monument, with a layout presenting line drawings, photographs and descriptive notes. The inventory preserves a wealth of information and detail on what is subject to a rapid process of deterioration, accelerated by the 1975 earthquake in which many monuments were completely lost.
Volume 1 of 8 volumes
