'It Has Now Passed For Ever Into Our Hands': Lord Curzon and the Construction of Imperial Heritage in Colonial Burma

Lord Curzon's ultimately successful effort to save the Palace of Mandalay from misuse and neglect constitutes a good example of imperial heritage building. The palace itself had already been the site for the construction of heritage as the Konbaung dynasty drew upon earlier models of Burmese kingship and Buddhist cosmology to use the palace (and royal capital) to help proclaim its power and legitimacy. However, after the Third Anglo-Burman War, the combination of the removal of the Konbaung dynasty and the British occupation of the palace resulted in the decay of the buildings, leading British travel writers to complain about their condition. In 1901, Lord Curzon evicted the British over substantial objections and began the process of preserving the palace. Curzon's aims reflected both his experience in India and the debate over historic preservation and restoration. Ultimately, Curzon came down on both sides: restoring some features of the palace while preserving others. Preserving the palace was a means of making the positive aspects of British rule visible; it also had the effect of removing the Konbaung dynasty from the present and consigning them to history.