Bogyoke Aung San Mausoleum (Martyrs’ Mausoleum)

The competition was awarded to the design team at Rangoon Institute of Technology (RIT), led by the young architect U Sun Oo, who envisaged an open pavil­i­on based on traditional building forms and constructed mainly of wood. However, the plans were not implemented in this form. In 1983, the old memorial was  the site of a bomb attack on South Korean President Chun  Doo-hwan, who was about to lay a wreath there during a state visit. While the president survived the assassination attempt perpetrated by North Korean agents, 21 people died and 47 were injured. U Sun Oo was asked to revise his design for the mau­soleum to ensure more security in the event of another attack. This included changes such as the removal of the roof.

…