Cultural experts and archaeologists are in despair after the Burmese authorities botched the rebuilding of one of the world's most important Buddhist monuments.
Pagan, Burma's mediaeval capital and the country's most important historical attraction, is a priceless collection of 2,217 Buddhist temples and pagodas stretching over 25 square miles of arid plain by the banks of the Irrawaddy.
More than half have been rebuilt. In some cases the collapsed buildings have been restored from the ground up in bright red brick, with cement finials. Many were finished this year in a restoration scheme one academic described as "verging on Disneyfication".
Bob Hudson, a Sydney University archaeologist working in Pagan, wrote: "In many cases, ruined piles of rubble have been speculatively reconstructed on the basis of similarity to other buildings."
Burma's military regime is also building a 200ft observation tower, which will dwarf all the temples but one, for tourists to gain a bird's eye view of pagodas. A towering red-and-white crane now juts out of the construction area, ringed by steel fencing. There will be a golf course adjoining.
"It's a cultural crime," said Pierre Pichard, a Pagan expert at the French Research School of the Far East based in Thailand. "It will be conspicuous and ugly, and it's crazy to add such a structure in the middle of an ancient historical site."
An official at Unesco, the United Nations cultural organisation, said Pagan had lost its status as a main contender for listing as a World Heritage Site. This means it will miss out on outside expertise and advice on preservation and restoration, not to mention tourist appeal.
Pagan's golden era lasted from the 11th century to the 13th. Temples and pagodas were constructed with extraordinary religious fervour as Buddhism rose to ascendancy over Hinduism.
That ended with Kublai Khan's invasion in 1287, although the temples were mostly spared. Looting over the centuries, when the site was largely abandoned, robbed it of much of its treasures and a 1975 earthquake damaged many of the structures.