Interior designer Mica Ertegün and artist Ellsworth Kelly were honored at WMF's 27th Hadrian Gala on October 22. The honorees, both icons in the world of art and culture and longtime supporters of WMF, were recognized for their commitment to heritage preservation projects around the world. The evening featured tributes by Agnes Gund and Father Alexander Karloutsos and musical performances by Peter Duchin and Members of the Peter Duchin Orchestra. The fourth annual Hadrian Gala After Party was held at Phillips auction house.  

During the gala a new WMF endowment supported by Mica Ertegün was announced, the  Ertegün Fund for Religious Heritage, which will support the conservation of buildings of all faiths around the world. 

The Finnish organization that led the restoration of Alvar Aalto's Viipuri Library in Vyborg, Russia, along with library officials, will receive the 2014 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize. The building, completed in 1935, was in a dilapidated state following the collapse of the Soviet Union. A restoration project led by the prize-winning team began in 1992 and finished in 2013. 

The award will be presented at the Museum of Modern Art in New York on December 1 and will be followed by a public lecture by the prize-winning team. Lecture registration details will be published next week on our website. Seating is limited. 

WMF is supporting the development of a conservation plan for one of the most important Renaissance-era buildings in Spain, the Monastery-Hospital of San Marcos in León. Since 1965 the Parador de León has been operating in a section of the structure. The complex has maintained much of its historic features through the centuries, but constant exposure to weathering, moisture, and pollution has weakened the façade's masonry. Since the summer, in partnership with the Instituto de Turismo de España, WMF Spain, and American Express, WMF has been implementing a project to study the damage and develop recommendations for long-term conservation.

Initial studies revealed that techniques used during interventions in the 1990s, using materials commonly applied at that time, had resulted in further deterioration and would need to be corrected. WMF will undertake a series of priority interventions on a section of the main façade of the building as a pilot project, and will develop recommendations for long-term care.