NATIONAL MUSEUM (MUSÉE NATIONAL)

The Yangon National Museum left its city center in 1996, in the business district and embassies in a Soviet-style building. The museum seems to have got it. Created in 1952, he settled in the Shwedagon pagoda area, where he moved in 1970 and settled definitively in Pansodan. It is now a little eccentric, but in a large and airy building (when air conditioning is decided to work properly!).

All collections are now presented on five floors, but the rooms are of unequal interest.

The first room, on the ground floor, dedicated to holy manuscripts and scriptures covering time parabaiks, has only a minor interest, unless you are an invapoded fan of epigraphy.

The next room, on the other hand, deserves the move. It is reserved for the lion's throne, which has marvelously crossed the years through a favorable competition. This throne has indeed seen the country. Taken away from the palace of Mandalay by the British, he spent several decades in the museum of Calcutta, before being retroced to Burma, after independence. It was preserved, while the other eight trones remaining in Mandalay Palace were to disappear under the Allied bombing during the Second World War.

At the front of the throne, sculpted on its height (8 m), we recognize Lawkanatha, the musician with very special gifts: according to legend, he succeeds with his singing and dancing to pacify fierce beasts in battle. All around the room, you can see models of other trones.

On the upper floor, the first hall recalls the great dates of Burmese history, whose beginnings are lost in the night of time. This will mainly include objects discovered during excavations on the pyu of Halin, Sri Ksetra and Beikthano sites (near Prome), including funeral ures from the remnants of Beikthano, jewels as well as objects showing the first time of Buddhism in Burmese land. Major scenes of Buddha's life are carved on large stone or clay plates alongside beautiful Buddha bronze statuettes from Sri Ksetra. If you plan to discover the pyu ruins, remnants of a disappeared civilization, this room is an excellent introduction.

The second hall illustrates the different periods of history through the development of the arts during successive dynasties. From the glorious era of Bagan (between the ninth and thirteenth centuries), we can see many sculptures from the most beautiful pagoda of the plain, the bronze Buddhas and various reproductions of the events of his life. Finely carved bas-reliefs and stucs also show the talent of the artists at the time. There are also many objects of daily life here: Clay pipes, tea boxes or betting, bronzes, wooden sculptures, dating from xve and sixteenth centuries. All reflect the artistic style of the Konbaung dynasty.

The next room exhibits truly sumptuous pieces, in use under the same dynasty, in the Royal Court in particular. Here, not an object of everyday life that is a masterpiece of goldsmith. The smallest betting box is beautifully carved and beautifully carved of precious stones.

The next room is dedicated to the palace of Mandalay and its inhabitants. There are costumes from the great days of the Mandalay courtyard and the wooden furniture from the palace. Models and photographs restore the grandeur of the royal court of the day.

The second floor is dedicated to Burmese traditional music and crafts in two very picturesque rooms. The first includes an astonishing collection of musical instruments, the most sophisticated ones to the most rudimentary: tambourine, xylophones, harp mounted on crocodile back, gongs, drums and cymbals. During your trip, only the Pwe will offer you the opportunity to attend performances accompanied by these typical instruments with sometimes surprising sounds. A collection of puppets helps identify the main protagonists involved in a classical representation.

The second of these rooms presents handicraft articles, in a wide panorama of all the objects of the Burmese daily newspaper. Among the very beautiful exhibits exhibited, most still have real utility in everyday life, and have evolved very little. These are the very beautiful laws (gift boxes of the monks and food paneling) as well as traditional woven craft, very similar to those you can observe in Amarapura by strolling through the streets, guided by the noise of the flying shuttle.

The upper floor (Burmese ornaments and art gallery) does not have a major interest. On the other hand, we have to climb on the top floor, where the traditional costumes of all local minorities are exposed. Although relegated to the end of the museum, the ethnic groups, represented by dummies, seem to live in their colorful costumes. An interesting panorama of the mosaic of the peoples of the Union of Myanmar.