Deutsche Presse Agentur
Yangon’s streets have an air of cinematic unreality, with rain clouds hanging low and mildew lacing the facades of hundreds of fading colonial-era buildings as great crowds swarm the streets.
New retail businesses are moving in to Myanmar’s largest city as prosperity spreads and tourist numbers swell, creating both a threat and an opportunity to the old buildings, many a century old.
Many of the structures – originally built as depositories, libraries, malls and hospitals – no longer seem to be used for what they were intended, instead serving as makeshift shops, or as homes for dozens of families.
Others remain completely abandoned. Cracks are evident in walls, window glass is broken and the old elegance is only dimly visible.
In an effort to protect Yangon’s historic central business district, the city has deemed nearly 200 such buildings protected. The heritage status of hundreds of others has yet to be determined.
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