Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) was a British colony from 1824 until 1948 when it gained independence. It was then run under strict military rule for more than half a century until Htin Kyaw took office as the country’s first democratically elected leader in April 2016. Since gaining independence in 1948, virtually no conservation or repair work has been carried out on the numerous grand colonial-era buildings in the nation’s capital of Yangon (formerly Rangoon). Nearly all of these stunning…