World Monuments Fund
March 2011 

Disaster in Japan

All of us at World Monuments Fund mourn the loss of life in the recent catastrophes in Japan. WMF has been in touch with colleagues in the country so that when the time is appropriate, we will be ready to assist in disaster recovery at heritage sites in affected areas.

Allies Asked to Spare Libyan Heritage 

UNESCO Blue ShieldUNESCO has called on the countries participating in enforcing the Libyan no-fly zone to respect the important ancient sites sprinkled along Libya's Mediterranean coast. The Archaeological Institute of America has announced that it has turned over to the US government the geographical coordinates of the country's major sites. For the first time in history, the US is bound to avoid the destruction of cultural property during military conflict. In 2008 the United States ratified the Convention for the Protection of  Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, also known as the Hague Convention, adopted by UNESCO in 1954 but never ratified by any Western nation until recently. Libya is also a signatory to the Hague Convention.

Senior Diplomat Visits WMF Angkor Project

Carol A. Rodley, U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia, recently toured WMF's project at Phnom Bakheng, which received nearly $1 million from the U.S. State Department in 2008. WMF staff took Ambassador Rodley through the site, where we are actively engaged in a conservation project as well as a tourism management plan.

Historic Polish Synagogue Restored

Work recently finished at Zamość Synagogue, an early 17th-century building with 18th-century additions in Zamość, Poland. One of the most architecturally significant synagogues in Poland, it had been deteriorating since the mid-20th century. WMF supported the work on the northern annex as part of the complete restoration of the structure. The synagogue is part of a group of historic sites on the Chassidic Route, a Jewish heritage tourist trail in southeastern Poland that will soon extend into Ukraine. A ceremony in April will mark the official reopening of the building.

2010 Watch Site Slated for Demolition

Phillis Wheatley Elementary School, a sleek, mid-1950s cantilevered structure in the Trem�/Lafitte neighborhood of New Orleans that was on our 2010 Watch list, is slated for demolition. Bids are currently being sought by Louisiana Department of Education. Despite surviving Hurricane Katrina intact and a plausible adaptive reuse proposal, the school's future is uncertain. DOCOMOMO-Louisiana has launched an online petition in an attempt to halt the demolition. Its loss would be yet another reminder of the precarious state of many endangered mid-century modern buildings in the United States.  

Edinburgh Graveyards Plan Moves Forward

This month WMF Britain appointed Dr. Susan Buckham to lead a partnership with the Edinburgh World Heritage Trust that will focus on promoting stewardship at the five historic graveyards in the Scottish capital that appeared on the 2010 Watch. The program will examine possible financially sustainable models of management for the cemeteries and investigate the potential of enhanced community participation.

New Publications by WMF Staff

Four WMF staff members are authors of new books. John Stubbs, Vice President for Field Projects, follows up on his acclaimed Time Honored with a volume co-authored with Emily G. Makas entitled Architectural Conservation in Europe and the Americas. Pierre Jacky, Director of World Monuments Fund Europe, has co-authored, with Georges de Lastic, two volumes on French painter and designer Alexandre-Fran�ois Desportes: Desportes: Monographie and Desportes: Catalogue Raisonn�. Margot Note, Director of Archives and Information Management, is the author of Managing Image Collections: A Practical Guide. Amita Baig, India Country Representative, has authored Forts & Palaces of India.

Join WMF in Turkey this September 

Join WMF experts and scholars on a nine-day journey through Turkey this September. We'll begin in Istanbul with a tour of the historical sites in this ancient capital. Next, we'll travel through eastern Turkey, including Cappadocia with its dramatic landscape and well-preserved Byzantine churches and monasteries; Ankara, featuring the first-century Temple of Rome and Augustus; the stunning medieval Georgian sites in Erzurum; and Ani, known for its breathtaking scenery and spectacular architecture. For more information and to receive the full itinerary as soon as it is available, please e-mail Ashley Tierney or call 646-424-9594.


ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL VISITOR CENTER WINS AWARD

Oculus, the new visitor center in this iconic London landmark, created with substantial support from WMF/American Express,  recently won an Exhibition Design award at the 2011 Design Week Awards.

WEBSITE FOR NY STUDIO SCHOOL PROJECT

A website documenting ongoing investigations and conservation work at Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney's studio in New York recently launched. 

NY Review of Books Features Zonnestraal Sanatorium

Prominent architecture critic Martin Filler profiled Zonnestraal Sanatorium in a New York Review of Books piece. Architects Wessel de Jonge and Hubert-Jan Henket won the 2010 WMF/Knoll Modernism Prize for the restoration of the sanatorium. 

NEW WMF PUBLICATIONS

 

  2010 Watch Report

 

Preserving Haiti's Gingerbread Houses: 2010 Earthquake Mission Report 

Preserving the Textile Block at Florida Southern College

EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS

WMF Britain Activities  


The Emperor's Private Paradise
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York until
May 1


Modernism at Risk at the University of Michigan until April 20

WMF IN THE NEWS

The New York Times:
Gothic Pioneer Walpole Finally Gets His Due

Art & Antiques:
The Emperor as Aesthete

JO:
A Worthy Restoration

Express & Star:
 �1 Million Bid Launched to Restore Dudley Zoo

Kent News:
 Multi-Million Pound Restoration of Hadlow Tower to Begin

ABC:
La Cartuja de Miraflores Recupera su Esplendor
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