As travellers visit the Bagan Ancient Cultural Heritage Zone, where Myanmar’s cultural heritage is richly concentrated, locals are helping promote Bagan internationally by offering commemorative photographs of Myanmar’s ancient cultural heritage and applying traditional Myanma Thanaka on a small-scale service basis to the local and foreign travellers, according to Myinkaba Village photography businesses that produce souvenir photographs.
In Bagan, photographers from Myinkaba Village primarily produce photographs of 18 prominent pagodas and temples, including the four sacred tooth relic pagodas. Other local photographers also produce images capturing the natural beauty of the Bagan region. These souvenir photographs are sold at lacquerware shops, clothing stores, and photo shops. Moreover, local youths sell photo sets (four by six inches and four by eight inches) containing ten images of pagodas, temples, and landscapes at prices ranging from K2,000 to K5,000 per set. Higher profits are earned from sales to tourists, and sales were strong during the 2026 New Year season, the Union Day, and the Chinese New Year holiday period.
“Although ASEAN countries each have their own ancient cultural heritage, I believe none of them can match Bagan, where Myanmar’s ancient heritage is concentrated. This can be seen from the number of visitors from ASEAN countries who come to Bagan. When we take and resell photographs of Bagan’s ancient pagodas and natural beauty, images of the Four Sacred Tooth Relic sites — Shwezigon, Tantkyitaung, Tuyintaung, Lawkananda, and Mount Popa — sell well. We are proud and happy to have the opportunity to provide this service, create job opportunities for local youths, and showcase our region’s culture and natural beauty while helping Bagan gain greater international recognition,” said U Tin Zeya, photographer from Myinkaba Village.
Myinkaba Village is the first village to produce and distribute commemorative photographs of Bagan’s ancient cultural heritage and natural beauty to domestic and international travellers. In addition to the photography businesses, the village is well known for producing and selling lacquerware, mural paintings, hand paintings, sand paintings, handicrafts, Thanaka products, and other local goods. It is also a popular destination for foreign visitors.
Tourists prefer the photos of Dhammayangyi, Shwezigon, Tantkyitaung, Tuyintaung, Lawkananda, Ananda, Bu, Thatbyinnyu, Culamani, Htilominlo and Mount Popa, and they mostly purchase lacquer ball-point pens, hairpins and lighters. Local youths sell photos, explain the history of pagodas and temples and offer the service of applying traditional Myanma Thanaka for local and foreign tourists. Such doings create proper job opportunities, and the photographers are continuing to produce more quality commemorative photographs for visitors to Bagan, as the visitor arrivals are mostly high during the Myanma Thingyan Festival holiday.
Thitsa (MNA)/KTZH
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