THIS is a tiny piece of a once vast and majestic Burmese palace that was destroyed during the Second World War.

It was rescued, following renovations at the palace, by a soldier who fought out in Burma - now renamed Myanmar - in the 1880s.

The segment of battlement is the latest in our series of hidden treasures being featured in the Bolton Evening News because Bolton Art Gallery and Museum has not got enough space to show art or historical artefacts currently in storage.

Keeper of Egyptology Tom Hardwick stresses that anyone wishing to see the stored artefacts can make an appointment to view them.

The section is a wooden carved frieze, overlaid with gilt plaster and inlaid with mirror and coloured glass, not in itself intrinsically valuable but important historically.

The palace was destroyed during the Second World War and, although it was later rebuilt, it is only a copy - almost like a film set.

The frieze came from the royal palace at Mandalay in Burma, built around 1857 in the reign of King Mindon who ruled between 1853 and 1878. Mindon's son, Thibaw, quarrelled with the British, prompting an invasion in 1885.

Burma was annexed to British India in 1886 and the monarchy abolished. The royal palace, renamed Fort Dufferin, was used as the British military HQ of Upper Burma.

The frieze section was rescued after renovation work at the former royal palace by John Mackay, a sergeant major in the Bedfordshire regiment, who fought in Burma in the 1880s and 1890s, and later in South Africa in the Boer War.

There are probably other parts of the frieze in other museums around the world and the fragment that Bolton has is an historical reminder of its magnificent past.

The palace was finally destroyed during Second World War, when it was used as a Japanese depot and heavily bombed.

At the centre of the Mandalay royal city was the Royal Palace, raised on a platform to be above all the rest of the houses.

The palace itself had apartments for 140 members of the king's immediate family. At the front of the palace was the throne room, containing the elaborate Lion Throne, now on display in the national museum in Yangon (formerly Rangoon).

Above the throne room rises a seven tiered gilded roof. Behind the throne room are royal apartments, baths, chapels and even an observation tower.

Climbing to the top of the tower gives an excellent view of the palace, as well as Mandalay Hill in the distance. Small shacks were perched on the peaks of many roofs so that during the days of the monarchy, guards could watch out for vultures, as it was thought to be very unlucky for one to land on the roof.

The palace was destroyed by fire at the end of the Second World War when the British shelled Mandalay Fort to try to dislodge some Japanese soldiers they thought were inside.

The palace was re-constructed many years later. Although impressive enough on the outside, it is largely a stage set with plain empty interiors.

The frieze was bequeathed to Bolton Museum in 1980 by John Mackay's daughter, who lived in Bolton.

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