New Project Announced at the Alhambra  

(Photo: To Uncertainty and Beyond/flickr/CC-BY-SA-NC-ND-3.0)    

On June 18, at a ceremony in Granada, WMF joined the Patronato de la Alhambra and American Express to announce a major initiative at the iconic Alhambra. A sustainable tourism plan, to be implemented over the next year, will open up previously inaccessible areas of the site while places too fragile to handle tourists will be the focus of virtual tours through downloadable applications on mobile electronic devices. WMF also announced it will commit $300,000 for the conservation of the Oratorio del Partal, a fourteenth-century Moorish chapel in the complex.

WMF Europe Launches Two Projects

(Photo: © Ela2007/ CC-BY-SA-NC-ND-3.0)  

In early June, WMF Europe announced two new major conservation projects set to begin this summer, one focusing on the choir of Albi Cathedral in southern France (pictured), and the other at the Salón Rico at the Medina Al-Zahra outside Córdoba, Spain. Albi Cathedral is an unusual fortress-like Gothic cathedral constructed of brick, which, despite its austere exterior is full of extraordinary art. The Medina Al-Zahra is an important abandoned city that was the capital of the Caliphate of Córdoba in the tenth and eleventh centuries.

Ruta Moche Wins Tourism Award

The World Tourism Organization recently announced that the "Ruta Moche" is the winning project for the Ulysses 2011 Award for Innovation in Tourism Governance. This new heritage trail in northern Peru, endorsed by WMF, connects several important Moche sites including Huaca de la Luna. 

Phillis Wheatley School Demolished

Phillis Wheatley Elementary School, a mid-1950s icon of modern architecture in New Orleans and 2010 Watch site, has been demolished. Work got underway in mid-June to raze the structure, which, despite being abandoned for a few years, was in sound condition. The school survived Hurricane Katrina intact and feasible reuse plans were offered, but the Department of Education condemned the building nonetheless. Demolition comes a full two months earlier than expected. The loss of Phillis Wheatley is a significant blow to the modern architectural heritage of New Orleans.