YANGON, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar welcomes the ancient city of Bagan selected as the world heritage site with its people delightedly celebrating the event Saturday.
Enlisting Bagan in the 2019 World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was approved at the 43rd session of World Heritage Committee held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
"I'm really delighted with the announcement and we will continue our efforts to put further cultural heritage sites including Mrauk-U in Rakhine state into the list," Arkar Kyaw, deputy director-general of Religious Affairs and Culture Ministry told Xinhua.
Myanmar people also hailed the outcome all over facebook and other social media platforms.
Being a home for cultural value and architecture with over 3,000 to 4,000 stupas, temples and other structures, Bagan, an ancient city in central Myanmar, is the country's heritage site selected after three Myanmar ancient Pyu cities -- Hanlin, Beikthano and Sri Kestra -- respectively located in Sagaing, Magway and Bago regions, won designation as the world heritages in 2014 for the first time.
Myanmar authorities have sought Bagan's inclusion in the World Heritage List since 1996 but failed for not meeting certain standards or requirements. But Myanmar applied again in 2018 with all the requirements having been met.
Bagan was hit by a 6.8-magnitude earthquake on Aug. 24, 2016 which damaged 389 pagodas. Emergency restoration work on the damaged pagodas were carried out rapidly after the disaster under a four-year plan.
The Bagan Ancient Cultural Zone, where over 3,000 ancient pagodas and religious edifices can be viewed in one place, has been in existence for more than 1,000 years, standing as one of the tourist attractions of Myanmar.
