This volume presents papers from a unique two-day conference organized in London in 2000 by The British Museum and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. The academic study of Burma, especially the study of its cultural history, has been very largely ignored over the last fifty years. The conference papers published here together form a major contribution towards the redress of that neglect. Current research was presented by scholars from the USA, Germany, France, Australia and the UK. Topics covered are prehistory, architecture (monastic and secular), the cult of the nats, lacquer, illustrated manuscripts, mural paintings, sculpture, textiles and the Ferrars Archive of Burma photographs at the Royal Geographical Society.