At-risk world monuments
NOTRE-DAME de Paris, Easter Island and Peru’s Sacred Valley of the Incas are among 25 new cultural heritage sites that have been named to a list of world monuments deemed at-risk and in need of urgent action.
The New York-based outfit World Monuments Fund released its 2020 World Monuments Watch list recently, a biennial selection of heritage sites in need of conservation efforts.
This year’s selection reflects key issues and themes, organisers point out, including the elevation of indigenous voices; historic and under-represented sites; urbanisation and development; and disaster recovery.
Desecration, for instance, has put Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument – a sacred site for indigenous groups in the United States – at risk, while proposed airport construction threatens the Sacred Valley of the Incas in Peru.
“The 2020 World Monuments Watch includes iconic treasures like Easter Island and socially-significant sites like the San Antonio Woolworth Building, reminding us that cherished places are determined not just by their architectural value, but also by their impact on communities around the world,” said WMF CEO Bénédicte de Montlaur in a statement.
Next spring, a group of sites selected from the 2020 Watch list will receive a total of Us$1mil (Rm4.2mil) in funding for conservation initiatives. Visit wmf.org/2020watch for more information. – AFP Relaxnews
Here are the 25 sites:
> Koutammakou, Land of the batammariba,
> benin and Togo
> ontario Place, Canada
> rapa Nui National Park, Chile
> alexan Palace, egypt
> Notre-dame de Paris, France
> Tusheti National Park, Georgia
> Gingerbread Neighborhood of Port-auprince, Haiti
> Historic Water systems of the deccan Plateau, India > sardar vallabhbhai Patel stadium, India > mam rashan shrine, Iraq
> Inari-yu bathhouse, Japan > Iwamatsu district, Japan
> Canal Nacional, mexico
> Choijin Lama Temple, mongolia > Traditional burmese Teak Farmhouses, myanmar
> Chivas and Chaityas of the Kathmandu valley, Nepal > anarkali bazaar, Pakistan > sacred valley of the Incas, Peru > Kindler Chapel, Pabianice evangelical Cemetery, Poland
> Courtyard Houses of axerquía, spain
> bennerley viaduct, united Kingdom
> bears ears National monument, us
> Central aguirre Historic district, us
> san antonio Woolworth building, us
> Traditional Houses in the old Jewish mahalla
of bukhara, uzbekistan