Pierre Pichard donnera une présentation intitulée "Pagan Revisited" à la Siam Society jeudi7 Mars 2013 à 7:30 p.m.  Pagan, the capital of the first Burmese kingdom, is well known for its Buddhist monuments. Between the 11th and the 14th century, more than 3000 temples, stupas and monasteries were built in a wide plain along the Irrawaddy River.
In 1975, a strong earthquake affected these monuments on various degrees. With very few exceptions, there was no total collapse, but many were badly damaged and all were seriously weakened. The most important ones were repaired and strengthened during the following years by the Burmese agencies under technical and financial assistance from Unesco and several donor countries. In 1995, a campaign was launched by the Burmese Authorities, promoting donations by individuals and institutions to rebuild monuments that have collapsed long ago and were only known by mounds of bricks and debris scattered in the field. More than one thousand monuments were completely or partially rebuilt from 1996 to 2006 under this programme, which was widely criticized by conservationists and art historians from abroad. After a three-week survey of the site in last September, Pierre Pichard will present and discuss these controversial issues which will become key factors in the future safeguarding of the site. Dr. Pierre Pichard, a French architect and member of Ecole Franaise d'Extreme-Orient, was sent to Pagan by Unesco in 1975 to investigate the damage to historic monuments at after the earthquake of July 8th, 1975. Following his report, he was the international coordinator for three successive projects funded by UNESCO and UNDP between 1882 and 1996. He has published the Inventory of Monuments at Pagan, in 8 volumes depicting 2830 Buddhist temples, stupas and monasteries. From 1967 to today, Pierre also participated in conservation activities on historic buildings of Thailand, Vietnam, India, Cambodia, Laos and Bhutan.

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