Watch Site
of the Week
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Starting this month, we will be taking an in-depth look at 2012 Watch sites on Facebook, featuring one each week. Be sure to check it out. |
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Murals Rediscovered at Qusayr 'Amra
The second season of conservation work at Qusayr 'Amra in Jordan wrapped up on November 30. The site, on the UNESCO World Heritage list, dates to the early eighth century and was a lodge and bath complex for an Umayyad caliph. The unique early Islamic murals on the interior are among the most important surviving from that period. This season saw the conservation of the exterior--including the repointing and consolidation of walls damaged by floods in 1994 and the dome and barrel vaults of the caldarium--as well as work to clean and stabilize the murals, many of which have been obscured for decades. |
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Digital Archive of Petroglyphs Goes Live
Tutuveni, an important Hopi ceremonial site on tribal land in Arizona, was on the 2008 World Monuments Watch. Following Watch-listing, WMF facilitated a partnership between Redlands University and CyArk to make digital scans of the site, which includes thousands of important petroglyphs that have been the target of vandals over the past two decades. The result of this mulit-year collaboration is a new feature on CyArk's website showcasing the digital scans. |
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Walpi Community Partnership Launched
In November, WMF kicked off its partnership with Walpi Village, a Hopi site on the 2012 World Monuments Watch. Frank Sanchis, Director of U.S. Programs, visited the village and gave a presentation on the 2012 Watch, and then joined the community for a WMF-sponsored cleanup. The entire Walpi community took part in this three-day activity, demonstrating their commitment to preserving the site. You can read more about Frank's experience at Walpi on our blog. |
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Mughal Designs Renewed in Delhi
Since 2007, WMF has partnered with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) on a conservation and restoration program at Isa Khan's tomb complex in Delhi, part of a larger neighborhood renewal initiative for the entire Humayun's Tomb complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Work in 2011 included excavating 325,000 square feet of earth around Isa Khan's tomb to reveal a Mughal sunken garden, the oldest in India. In addition, four craftsmen from Uzbekistan were brought in to train Indian workers in a ceramic tile-making technique long lost in India. The tiles they make will replace damaged and missing sixteenth-century originals on the structure. You can read more about the project in a field dispatch by Ratish Nanda, AKTC's Projects Director for India. A slideshow of ongoing work is also on our website. |
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Preservation High School Update
WMF continues its collaboration with the Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design in Brooklyn for the 2011-12 school year. WMF sponsored the development of the high school's preservation-based curriculum. Highlights this fall were a field school held at Morris-Jumel Mansion on Veterans Day and three Preservation in Practice tours at historic sites in New York City. |
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