Cultural Museums and Cultural Properties in Shan State

By Ms. Aye Aye Thinn

Director
Department Of Archaeology and National Museum
(Taunggyi Branch)
Myanmar
1. Introduction

The Shan State lies between (N 19˚28' and 24˚9', E 96˚15' and 101˚13'). It is the largest
state (60155.23 sq miles) existed in the east of Myanmar and it is divided into three parts such as
east, south and north. The neighboring countries such as Thailand, Laos and China mostly are
attached with the borders of the northern and eastern Shan state. In Shan state, over (33)
nationalities are living. The Intangible Cultural Heritages (ICH) from the giving birth to the dead
of the nationalities is varied and typical. The Department of Archaeology and National Museum
(Taunggyi Branch) has the responsibility to inventory the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage
(ICH) as well as the list of Tangible Cultural Heritage (TCH ).

2. Organization

In Shan state, Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture, the Department of Archaeology
and National Museum (Taunggyi Branch) is the head office and other two sections are founded
at Lashio in northern Shan state and at Kyaington in eastern Shan state. The Department of
Archaeology and National Museum (Taunggyi Branch) organizes totally (61) staffs including
(18) staffs of Kyaington, (18) staffs of Lashio and (25) staffs of Taunggyi. The office of director,
the head of the Department of Archaeology and National Museum (Taunggyi branch), is at
Taunggyi and manage the whole Shan state for the Department of Archaeology and National
Museum. And each assistant director is the head of the section. Each section has an assistant
director, a staff officer, two junior staff officers, two accountants, an administration staff, two
museum staffs, two library staffs, two research assistants, two museum guards, a cleaner, a
gardener and a driver. As the Taunggyi branch is the head office, a director, a deputy director, an
engineer, a junior staff officer, two administration staffs and a museum guard, totally (7) staffs
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are more than that of other sections. The objectives of the Department of Archaeology and
National Museum (Taunggyi Branch) are to safe guard both the Intangible Cultural Heritage and
the Tangible Cultural Heritage of Nationalities lived in the Shan state, to explore and conserve
the historical evidences in the Shan state and to be a knowledge center of the Cultural Heritage
of the Shan state.

3. Historical Evidences in Shan state

The evidences of the successive historical periods; prehistoric period, proto historic
period and historic period have been found in the Shan state. The significant evidences of the
Neolithic Stone Age are the rock arts at the Padalin cave in Ywar Ngan township, southern Shan
state and at the Lwal Won village in Phal Khone township, southern Shan state. The proto
historic period evidences are mostly found around the Innlay Lake at the Nyaung Shwe township
in the southern Shan state. Ancient cities and archaeological sites such as Pawrithad and Nam
pan ancient city with brick city walls and and Talote ancient city with the earthen city wall can
still be seen in Nyaung shwe township. The historic period evidences such as the pagodas and
monasteries are abundant in the Shan state since the Buddhism had spread the whole area of
Shan state. Besides, the palaces of the regional administrators (the Haw of Sawbwar) are still
existed.

4. Cultural Museums in Shan state

Under the Department of Archaeology and National Museum (Taunggyi Branch), there
are three museums. These three Cultural Museums are in Taunggyi, Kyaington and Lashio. The
Cultural Museum (Kyaington) is situated at the No.1 ward, Sume Satt hill near the Khaymarat
standing Buddha image in Kyaington of the eastern Shan state. It is two stories brick building
(22x10)m opened on 25th October, 2010. Altogether (950) museum objects are displayed both on
the ground floor and first floor. The Cultural Museum (Lashio) lies at (12) ward, Lashio in the
northern Shan state and it was inaugurated on 22 nd March, 2014. The (863) displayed objects are
being displayed in the three storied museum building (22x20)m.

5. Cultural Museum (Taunggyi)

Among the Cultural Museums in Shan state, Cultural Museum (Taunggyi) is the foremost
one and so I would like to emphasize that museum. The Cultural Museum (Taunggyi) is situated
on the Bogyoke Aung San road at the Forest (Thittaw) ward in Taunggyi, Shan State, Myanmar.
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At first, it was organized as the Shan state Cultural Department and exhibited some cultural
objects at the Shan state office on 27th June, 1956. According to the new administration system of
1974, it was transferred to the Department of Cultural Institute and it was inaugurated as the
Cultural Museum at the present building on 11 th May, 1974. So the 60 years old objects are
displayed in the over forty year’s old museum. In every Museum, the four main museum
functions; collection, documentation, exhibition, conservation and education are necessary to
operate.

6. Collection

According to the exhibition rooms, there are so many display objects made of different
materials such as silver, bronze, iron, stone, terracotta, glaze, animal bone, wood, bamboo, cane,
textile, paper, and plaster and so on. So far, there are altogether 5587 display objects collected as
follows:

Stone objects 314

Bronze objects 104
Iron objects 35
Gold objects -
Silver objects 34
Terracotta objects 931
Glazed objects 70
Porcelain objects -
Glass objects -
Machinery 15
Lead objects -
Animal objects 23
Wooden objects 772
Lacquer, bamboo, cane objects 930
Textiles 740
Paper objects 1434
Paintings 73
Seals 22
Replicas(Plaster) 40
Other 50
Total 5587
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Most of the museum objects are the cultural objects of the nationalities living in the
Shan state. The paper objects are majority in the collection because a lot of paper parchments of
Shan nationality and Pa-o nationality have been collected. Terracotta objects, Wooden objects,
Lacquer, bamboo, cane objects and Textiles are the traditional utensils and costumes of the
nationalities.

7. Documentation
When the display objects arrive at the Museum, they have to be entered in the "Entry
record" including identification such as gift, purchase, loan, or transfer with the signature,
name, and address of the depositor. And then it is necessary to give each object an accession
number. At present, a TRIPARTITE or TRINOMIAL system is being used. In this system,
the first number is usually the year the accession was made. The second number is the lot
number that is designated by type of material. The third number is the object number
accessioned in a particular lot. For example, if a bronze object is accessioned in 2018 and its
serial number in lot is 100, the accession number is 2018, 2,100.

The lot numbers are given together with the materials as follows:

Lot No. MATERIAL

1 Stone objects
2 Bronze objects
3 Iron objects
4 Gold objects
5 Silver objects
6 Terracotta objects
7 Glazed objects
8 Porcelain objects
9 Glass objects
10 Machinery
11 Lead objects
12 Animal objects
13 Wooden objects
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14 Lacquer, bamboo,
and cane objects
15 Textiles
16 Paper objects
17 Paintings
18 Seals
19 Replicas
20 Other

After that, proportions and weight are measured, photographs are taken, and then index
cards are filled in and attached to the objects. Entries are made in the registration record and the
museum objects database. When a display object is positioned, a location and movement record
is necessary. Whenever the object is moved, this is recorded and so it is easy to find the object.
When any object is borrowed or lent, a “Loan record (incoming)”or “Loan record (outgoing)”is
filled in.

8. Exhibition
The Shan state is enriched with the ICH and TCH properties and so the Cultural Museum
(Taunggyi) showcases them to be a knowledge center of the Shan Cultural Heritage as its
objective. It is two storied brick building and the display area is about 1040.5 square meters.
There are four exhibition rooms; exhibition room (1), exhibition room (2), exhibition room (3)
and exhibition room (4).Altogether 808 artifacts are being showcased in the exhibition rooms.
Exhibition room (1) and exhibition room (2) are in the ground floor. In the exhibition room (1),
the traditional costumes and the traditional instruments of Shan Nationalities are displayed. In
Shan State, over 30 Shan nationalities are still living and they have their own different cultures.
The Shan Nationalities have their Intangible Cultural Heritage such as the traditional arts and
crafts. Those arts and crafts such as weaving, lacquer wares, glazed wares and traditional Shan
paper are displayed associate with the explanation texts in the exhibition room (2).

Exhibition room (3) and exhibition room (4) are on the first floor. In the exhibition room
(3), it is shown about the Pinlon agreement, the most important event not only in Shan State but
also in the whole Myanmar country. On 12 th February, 1947, the Pinlon agreement leading by
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General Aung San had been signed by the leaders of Nationalities of Myanmar in Pinlon, Shan
State due to reveal the desire of all Myanmar Nationalities to get the Independence altogether
from British. The huge oil painting (1.5x2.4) m2 illustrated the signing of Pinlon agreement, the
copy of Agreement and the photos of the leaders of Nationalities who signed in the agreement,
attached with their biography are displayed. Moreover, the colorful paintings illustrated the
traditional cultures of Nationalities are also displayed.

Exhibition room (4) showcased about the literature of Shan nationality such as palm
leaves manuscripts and paper parchments. The photos of the Shan poets are also displayed
together with their biography. Besides, it is also displayed to show that the Shan nationalities
believe in Buddhism by showcasing the Buddha images made of bronze, wooden, lacquer and
clay. And the traditional utensils used in the monasteries for offering the alms food are exhibited.
It can reflect that the Shan nationalities deeply believe in the Buddhism. Moreover, the ancient
artifacts that can identify the periods flourished in the Shan state are exhibited. In the Cultural
Museum (Taunggyi), 808 display objects are exhibited in the four exhibition rooms and totally
5587 display objects are collected.

Most of the showcases used in the Cultural Museum (Taunggyi) are made of wood and
glass some of which had been used since the Cultural Museum was opened. The showcases are
both stand showcases and flat showcases. In side those Showcases are covered with velvet
clothes to display and the fluorescence light is used for the lighting. To upgrade the museum, the
modernized showcases with the LED strips have been made and gradually replaced to the old
showcases. For the caption of the display object, name of object, material, period, description
and the accession No. are mentioned in both Myanmar and English languages on the card
(13cmx8cm).

9. Conservation

A major objective of all conservation treatment is to increase the chemical stability of the
object being treated. Cleaning often forms an important part of the stabilizing process. This is
because dirt on an object can be a potent source of deterioration (as for example, when chloride
salts set up corrosion reactions on bronze, or fungus grow on organic materials like paper or
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textile). At other times, cleaning may be a necessary preliminary to a further treatment.

Therefore, cleaning the dirt is the main conservation works in the Cultural Museum (Taunggyi).

“Dirt” can be classified into two types;

(1) Foreign matter which is not part of the original object.

(Examples: soot, grease, stains, adhesives and fillings from previous treatment).

(2)Products of alteration of the original materials

(Examples: metal corrosion products, decayed timber or stone).

Dust (Foreign matter) is commonly an amazing mixture of fragments of human skin,

textile fibers, carbon particles (soot) and grease from unburned hydrocarbon fuels, from cooking
and from the skin of people and animals. There are many salts in dust, for example, Sodium
Chloride and sharp gritty Silica crystals are often present. In this chemical mixture are the spores
of countless moulds and fungi and micro-organisms are equally likely to attack objects made of
Organic material. Much of this dirt is hygroscopic (water –attracting) and this tendency can
encourage the growth of moulds and increase the corrosiveness of salts. So even dust is
damaging although perhaps only slowly.

If the dust is a product of the alteration of part of an object, some of the object itself
will be taking away when removing the dust. For instant, when the tarnish on the silver object is
cleaned away, not only the Sulphur atoms which are foreign matter but also some silver atoms
originally positioned by the silversmith. The collected display objects in Cultural Museum
(Taunggyi) are just cleaned and consolidated but coating is rarely done not to be disturbed the
aesthetic beauty of the object.

10. Public Education

According to the museum objective, Cultural Museum (Taunggyi) is striving to be a

knowledge center. Hence the visitors are being attracting by discounting the entrance fees. In
Cultural Museum (Taunggyi), the entrance fees for the local people are; 200 kyats (nearly 0.25 $)
for an adult person and free of charge for the monks, nuns, students and over 60 years old
persons but for foreigners are 5000 Kyats (nearly 5 $). The targeted audiences are variety at
Cultural Museum (Taunggyi) from the students to the lifelong learning people. The students from
the state schools as well as the Universities in Taunggyi are usually come and study. The
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museum staffs always explain about the exhibition and the display objects whenever they come.
The texts are attached with the display objects to understand feasibly. The pamphlets written
about the museum are delivered to the visitors to get the detail knowledge and to share about the
museum to their nearest people. Besides, the comment book is placed at the lobby on the first
floor to find out the evaluation of the visitors. The Cultural Museum (Taunggyi) often displays
the special exhibitions such as the display about the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the
nationalities and the Art exhibition cooperated with the Art association in the special occasions.

11. SWOT analysis

The Cultural Museum (Taunggyi) can be evaluated with SWOT analysis as follow;
The “Strength” of the museum is that most of the display objects are very rare and artistic
(60) years old wooden sculptures and paintings. Some paintings were created by the well known
artist U Ngwe Kine and U San Pe in 1950s.

The “Weakness” is that the building of the Cultural Museum (Taunggyi) was previously the
lady hostel of the Taunggyi College and so it is not convenient to exhibit in the building which is
in the hostel form. Moreover, the showcases are not modernized and not good for conservation
point of view.

The “Opportunity” is that it is on the main road of Taunggyi and near the state schools. It is
accessible for the visitors and also the students to study the museum. Moreover, the Shan state
Parliament is near by the museum and so the parliamentarians of the nationalities usually visit
the museum and give the traditional utensils and dresses as the presents to display.

The “Threaten” is that the over (40) years old museum building is necessary to restore and
the wooden floors of the first floor need reinforcement to display the heavy display objects like
the huge Buddha images.

12. Conclusion

The documentation, exhibition, conservation and public education of the Cultural

Museums in Shan state are the same. Only the Cultural Museum (Taunggyi) is therefore
mentioned as the example. The conservation and public education techniques are still needed to
improve and the capacity building of the museum staffs are necessary to up lift their skill.
Although the display objects are authentic, precious and rare, it is not satisfied that the
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showcases, the exhibition designs and lighting system. The Cultural Museum (Shan state) is
going to be upgrade and the public education process are being tried to promote. According to
the objectives of the Cultural Museum (Shan state), it is trying the best to become a modernized
museum in our region.

Reference
- Accession Register. Crafts Museum, India, Naveen printers, New Dehli, India, 2004.

- Conservation documentation and the implications of digitization, Michelle Moore, Institute of

Archaeology, United Kingdom, 2000.
- Documentation of Museum Collection. ICCROM, UNESCO, ICCROM and EPA, Internet,
2009.

- Exhibition , Conservation and Documentation at National Museum (Nay Pyi Taw), Aye Aye
Thinn, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan, 2015

- Manual for conservators. The National Museum (Nay Pyi Taw), 2012.
- Museum Education Principles and standards. American association of Museums, Washington
DC, 2005

- Science for conservators Volume-2, Cleaning. The Conservation Unit of the Museums and
Galleries Commission, London and New York, 1992