8 unique world heritage ancient towns and cities in South East Asia
Discover World Heritage Ancient Towns and Historic Cities in South Asia, its unique and without parallel anywhere in Southeast Asia.
- Bagan, Myanmar
- Hoi An Ancient Town, Vietnam
- Lang Prubang, Laos
- Melaka and George Town, Malaysia
- Historic City of Ayutthaya, Thailand
- Historic City of Sukhothai, Thailand
- Historic City of Vigan, Philippines
- Pyu Ancient Cities, Myanmar
Bagan, Myanmar
Bagan is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Bagan Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that would later constitute Myanmar.
During the kingdom’s height between the 11th and 13th centuries, more than 10000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains alone of which the remains of over 2200 temples and pagodas survive.
Lying on a bend of the Ayeyarwady River in the central plain of Myanmar, Bagan is a sacred landscape, featuring an exceptional range of Buddhist art and architecture.
The seven components of the serial property include numerous temples, stupas, monasteries and places of pilgrimage, as well as archaeological remains, frescoes and sculptures.
The property bears spectacular testimony to the peak of Bagan civilization (11th -13th centuries CE), when the site was the capital of a regional empire. This ensemble of monumental architecture, reflects the strength of religious devotion of an early Buddhist empire.
Hoi An Ancient Town, Vietnam
Hoi An is a city Quang Nam Province and is noted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999.
Old Town Hội An, the city’s historic district, is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century. Its buildings and its street plan reflect the influences, both indigenous and foreign, that have combined to produce this unique heritage site.
Prominent in the city’s old town is its covered “Temple Bridge”, dating to the 16th–17th century.
Lang Prubang, Laos
Luang Prabang, literally meaning “Royal Buddha Image”, is a city in north central Laos, consisting of 58 adjacent villages, of which 33 comprise the UNESCO Town Of Luang Prabang World Heritage Site.
The centre of the city consists of four main roads and is located on a peninsula at the confluence of the Nam Khan and Mekong River. Its unique, remarkably well-preserved townscape illustrates a key stage in the blending of these two distinct cultural traditions.
Luang Prabang is well known for its numerous Buddhist temples and monasteries. Every morning, hundreds of monks from the various monasteries walk through the streets collecting alms.
Melaka and George Town, Malaysia
Melaka and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Malacca have developed over 500 years of trading, and cultural exchanges between East and West in the Straits of Malacca.
The influences of Asia and Europe have endowed the towns with a specific multicultural heritage, that is both tangible and intangible.
With its government buildings, churches, squares and fortifications, Melaka demonstrates the early stages of this history, originating in the 15th-century Malay sultanate and the Portuguese and Dutch period, beginning in the early 16th century.
Featuring residential and commercial buildings, George Town represents the British era from the end of the 18th century. The two towns constitute a unique architectural and cultural townscape, without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia.
Historic City of Sukhothai, Thailand
Sukhothai is from Sanskrit, meaning “dawn of happiness”. Founded in 1238, it is. Sukhothai was the capital of the first Kingdom of Siam in the 13th and 14th centuries. The city has a number of fine monuments, illustrating the beginnings of Thai architecture.
The great civilization which evolved in the Kingdom of Sukhothai, absorbed numerous influences and ancient local traditions; the rapid assimilation of all these elements forged what is known as the ‘Sukhothai style’.
Historic City of Ayutthaya, Thailand
Ayutthaya Historical Park covers the ruins of the old city of Ayutthaya, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province.
Founded around 1350, Ayutthaya became the second Siamese capital after Sukhothai. The city was destroyed by the Burmese in the 18th century. Its remains, characterized by the prang (reliquary towers) and gigantic monasteries, give an idea of its past splendour.
Historic City of Vigan, Philippines
Established in the 16th century, Vigan is the best-preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia. It is a 4th class component city and capital of the province of Ilocos Sur.
Located on the western coast of the large island of Luzon, facing the South China Sea, it is one of the few Spanish colonial towns left in the Philippines, whose old structures have mostly remained intact.
It is well known for its sett pavements and a unique architecture of the Spanish Philippines colonial era, which fuses Native Philippine and Oriental building designs and construction, with colonial Spanish architecture that is still abundant in the area.
Its architecture reflects the coming together of cultural elements from elsewhere in the Philippines, from China and from Europe, resulting in a culture and townscape, that have no parallel anywhere in East and South-East Asia.
Pyu Ancient Cities, Myanmar
Pyu city states were a group of city-states that existed from c. 2nd century BCE to c. mid-11th century in present-day Upper Burma (Myanmar). The city-states—five major walled cities and several smaller towns have been excavated—were all located in the three main irrigated regions of Upper Burma.
Pyu Ancient Cities, which are are designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, includes the remains of three brick, walled and moated cities of Halin, Beikthano, and Sri Ksetra, located in vast irrigated landscapes, in the dry zone of the Ayeyarwady River basin. They reflect the Pyu Kingdoms that flourished for over 1000 years between 200 BC and AD 900.
The three cities are partly excavated archaeological sites. Remains include excavated palace citadels, burial grounds and manufacture sites, as well as monumental brick Buddhist stupas, partly standing walls, and water management features – some still in use – that underpinned the organized intensive agriculture.
