Hanthawady Ancient City: Maintenance of royal moat & city wall are underway

In Bago region, repairing and maintaining of royal moat and city wall of Hanthawady ancient city are being carried out for the people to be able to study the ancient historical heritage.

The city wall, palace and royal moat are needed to excavate and maintain for deterioration and people living in successive eras in Hanthawady ancient city which was established by King Bayint Naung about 470 years ago.

Myint Zaw, Director (Bago Branch), Dept. of Archaeology and National Museum said "Starting from 2018-2019 fiscal year, Bago Region Government has undertaken excavation and maintenance of the moat of Hanthawady ancient city. The ancient city wall is a rectangle-shaped and it is over 1.5-mile long from north to south and 1.3-mile long from east to west. The royal moat is built around the city wall to purpose the city’s security and safety."

The official added that the total length of royal moat of Hanthawady ancient city is over 30,000 feet. There were three kinds of moats; water moat, mud moat and dry moat. Water moat was primarily built to protect from enemy’s attacks and managed to get water supply.

Myint Zaw, Director (Bago Branch), Dept. of Archaeology and National Museum said "We already performed to excavate about 9,700 feet and so, we finished 30% of the digging process. We have already excavated and maintained the city wall about 1,300 feet and over 4% of the tasks was done. We keep maintenance to prevent deterioration. The royal moat is 210-ft wide, 22-ft deep and about 76-ft feet from city wall. Starting from 2018-2019 fiscal year, we have been doing the cleaning up of hyacinths, trash and garbage there and keep maintaining into normalcy."

The maintaining process is being conducted in Hanthawady ancient city to take relaxation, to have a visiting place and to take pride for the people by observing ancient cultural heritages.