Near a slow bend in the Irrawaddy River here, the brick peaks of the 13th-century Winido temple complex reach majestically skyward. They are among this nation's great monuments to its Buddhist traditions.
But the rooftops, towers and conical stupas, as they are called, are no longer the only structures that dominate the horizon at sunset. Just a few hundred meters away, a newly built 200-foot-tall concrete viewing tower looms over a plain punctuated with several thousand structures.
Those edifices give evidence of what was once an imperial capital and a world center of Theravada Buddhist life.
Ancient kings celebrated their faith and power by building tall and lavish brick monuments, with murals and sculptures.
Now the military dictators who run this country, which they call Myanmar, are adding their own structures, constructed from poured concrete.
The viewing tower is within an area the United Nations has tried for decades to protect with World Heritage status.
The structure has set off an outcry: Conservationists and travel executives condemn the project, but none criticize the government, for fear of retribution.
''We cannot fight against this government in any way because they have total control," said a conservation official in Burma.
In addition to the tower, a poured concrete palace is also being built as an approximate, if entirely imagined, re-creation of the seat of an empire that once ruled a swath of Southeast Asia.
''They are digging up this wealthy archaeological zone to build artificial lakes, golf courses, and now a structure based on their imagined idea of the palace," said a conservationist in Thailand who declined to be named. ''It makes you want to scream."
Described by Marco Polo in the late 13th century as a splendor of gilded towers with ringing bells, the city fell on tough times. Kublai Khan's troops from Mongolia destabilized the empire. They were followed by treasure-hunting Shan hordes who broke up Buddhas in search of jewels. A major earthquake in 1975 sent many of the brick structures tumbling.
''A Disney-style fantasy version of one of the world's great religious and historical sites is being created by that government," said Christian Manhart, a program specialist for UNESCO. ''They use the wrong materials to build wrongly shaped structures on top of magnificent ancient stupas."
Manhart was declared persona non grata by the government because of his protests against the rebuilding program.
The new tower, a cigarette-shaped structure with a spiral staircase around the exterior, is topped off with three viewing floors and an ornate decorative sculpture on the roof. Surrounding the tower is a large hotel resort. Two dozen luxury cottages are under construction. An artificial lake has been filled, though that area of Burma suffers from chronic shortages of clean water.
Once the tower opens to visitors in the next few months, visiting rules are expected to take effect for the entire zone.
''The tower is an absolute scandal that would cause outrage if people knew what was happening to one of the world's great monuments," a retired government official said. ''But of course Bagan's restoration has long been a tool of politicians."
Bagan's restoration entered national politics in force after a 1975 earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 caused 800-year old brick structures to crumble. Opponents of the military government walked the streets of the capital raising money for the restoration.
"The government saw the opposition's effectiveness and adopted the temples for the power of association with the country's ancient glory," the retired official said. "But unlike the Cambodians with Angkor Wat, the generals here insist on doing the restoration without scientific consultation."
The leadership's aim of inheriting the mantle of ancient Bagan was evident in a recently produced government film that morphed the face of King Anawrahta, the eleventh-century king who built the first empire, into the face of Than Shwe, Burma's head of state.
"The message was very clear," said a European ambassador who saw the film. "This country's leadership clearly envisions themselves as carrying on an ancestor's work."
Taking on that work has been a habit of the generals and seems to be the reason the tower was built in the first place. In Burma, the generals are featured each day on the evening news, "giving guidance" to citizens constructing a new bridge or dam.
The generals have long taken a similar attitude toward Bagan, according to curators and historians in Burma. In 1991 a visiting general, Khin Nyunt, is said to have noted that the 14th century That-Byin-Nyu temple seemed dark. His comment resulted in a fresh coat of whitewash splashed over mural-painted walls in a temple considered the climax of the empire's creative energy.
In 2000, a photo of the damaged stupas of the Paya-Thon-Zu temple that was printed in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper prompted Than Shwe to order that new tops be placed on what was one of the most architecturally innovative temples from the second half of the 13th century.
Inspiration for the tower itself is said to have come from Than Shwe's comment that all visitors should enjoy the broad view of the plain that he saw one evening from the window of his military helicopter.