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Haiku Contest
April is National Poetry Month in the US, and to celebrate, WMF is holdings its second annual Haiku Contest.

 

Travel with WMF

WMF will be leading a trip to New Mexico from July 30 through August 4. Join us as we explore the historic Taos Pueblo and Santa Fe.

For more information, contact [email protected].

 

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Mumbai Synagogue Glass to Be Restored

WMF has officially launched a stained glass conservation project at Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue in Mumbai, India. The nineteenth-century stained glass windows, designed by John Hardman Trading Co., Ltd., are considered among the most beautiful in all of Mumbai. Conservators will address the buildup of years of particulate matter on the glass panels, cracks, lead fatigue, rust on the saddle bars, and other worn-out materials. New waterproofing and protective methods will also be utilized to ensure longevity of these very significant panels.

Grant for Damaged Japanese Heritage
On March 7, WMF announced a grant of $250,000 for the restoration of seven buildings in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, damaged in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The grant will support the efforts of a local nonprofit working with the government of Kesennuma to restore historic structures. 
This is WMF's second grant for the preservation of damaged cultural heritage in eastern Japan, following one made in 2012 to restore seven machiya buildings in the historic town of Sawara, Katori City, Chiba Prefecture. The built heritage damaged in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami is on the 2012 Watch. 
Neutra's Cyclorama Center Demolished

In early March, after years of legal battles between the National Park Service and advocacy groups trying to save Richard Neutra's Cyclorama Center on the Gettysburg battlefield, the building was demolished. Neutra designed the building in 1958 as part of Mission 66, a federally sponsored program that ran from 1956 to 1966 aiming to improve visitor services at national parks. The building was created as a visitor center and to house a nineteenth-century cylindrical mural of Pickett's Charge, the famous last battle of Gettysburg. To coincide with the demolition work, The Huffington Post published a story by WMF President Bonnie Burnham outlining the issues and questioning the National Park Service's decision.


WMF Hosts Palace Museum Delegation

For 10 days in March, representatives of the Palace Museum (Forbidden City) in Beijing, including two recent graduates of the World Monuments Fund/Palace Museum conservation training school, CRAFT, came to New York for a series of technical exchange meetings, presentations, and site visits. Three days of meetings focused on developing a conservation and restoration program for Fuwangge (Belvedere of Viewing Achievements), Zhuxiangguan (Lodge of Bamboo Fragrance), and Yucuixuan (Bower of Purest Jade), three of the 27 buildings in the Qianlong Garden of the Forbidden City now under conservation. Following the meetings, visits to conservation labs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and restoration projects of the Preservation Society of Newport County offered insight into conservation approaches and practices in the United States.

WMF Britain's CEO Wins Award
Jonathan Foyle, Chief Executive of WMF Britain, has won the bronze medal in the category "Architecture Writer of the Year" at the LSL Property Press Awards for his regular column in The Financial Times