Sacred and Profaned.

MYANMAR description & travel; PILGRIMS & pilgrimages; SACRED space; CHURCH architecture; TEMPLES; BUDDHISM; ANCIENT cities & towns

AS WE RATTLE ALONG rutted dirt tracks in a battered jeep, Aung Kyaing, chief archaeologist of Pagan's breathtaking 1,000-year-old Buddhist temples, points out an enormous pentagonal pyramid sparkling in the morning sunlight, dominating this arid central Burma plain. Kyaing, an affable scholar dressed in an immaculate white shirt and green longyi, the traditional wraparound skirt favored by both Burmese men and women, is showing me an archaeological disaster--the best and the worst of the government's recent efforts to restore the ancient temples. In 1996, the junta invited sponsors across Asia to donate money to help the Burmese rebuild the crumbling temples, but they spurned any professional assistance from international conservators. The resulting hurried and often sloppy restorations have risked destroying the very treasures that make Pagan unique. With the release of Burmese dissident and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, 57, from house arrest, the government has signaled, if not a willingness to back away from its harshly antidemocratic stance, at least a recognition of the importance of tourism and foreign exchange. Originally built by kings and subjects intent upon earning better lives in future incarnations, the temples were the seat of a dynasty that extended over an empire more or less the configuration of present-day Burma. Many of the temples in Burma were built to house relics of Buddha, Indian Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who some 2,500 years ago, renounced his wealth and taught his followers that they could experience enlightenment directly, without help from priests.The Pagan Empire began to disintegrate in 1277 with its ignominious defeat at the hands of Kublai Khan's army at Ngasaungsyan, near the Chinese border 400 miles to the north. The pros and cons of a visit to Burma are presented in the eighth edition of Lonely Planet's guidebook Myanmar(Burma), and at www.lonelyplanet.com.