Government Press Buildings

The former Government Press Buildings (Burmese: ဗဟိုပုံနှိပ်စက်ရုံ) is a colonial-era landmark in Yangon, Myanmar (formerly Rangoon, Burma), designated in the Yangon City Heritage List. The building complex is located on the northwest corner of the Secretariat on Theinbyu Road.[1]

Government Press Buildings
ဗဟိုပုံနှိပ်စက်ရုံ
Map
General information
LocationYangon, Myanmar
Coordinates16°46′11″N 96°09′38″E / 16.769805°N 96.160544°E / 16.769805; 96.160544
Completed1912
Design and construction
Architect(s)John Begg

The low-rise brick complex was designed by Scottish architect John Begg, and built between 1909 and 1912.[2][1] The complex's main facade features an elegant entrance with Greek columns.[1] During the colonial era, the building was the official distribution center and printing factory for official government publications, including gazettes, journals, news, and textbooks.[3] In the post-colonial era, it became the publishing arm of the Ministry of Information's Government Printing and Stationery Department, employing over 1,300 staff.[3] The broader Government Printing and Stationery Department complex housed the Printing & Publishing Enterprise (ပုံနှပ်ရေးနှင့်စာအုပ်ထုတ်ဝေရေးလုပ်ငန်း) until 2005, when the national government moved ministerial facilities to Naypyidaw.[3] The building later served as the Office for the Minister of Information.[2] This building is still owned by the Ministry which maintains some offices here.[2]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "Printing & Publishing Enterprise – Architectural Guide: Yangon". Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  2. ^ a b c "7th Blue Plaque (Central Press) – Yangon Heritage Trust". Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  3. ^ a b c Stewart, Lucas (2019-07-30). "Printing with the Government Press Building". Lucas Stewart. Retrieved 2020-05-23.