World heritage sites are at risk

A graceful baroque church built in the late 18th century by members of Arizona’s Tohono O’odham Nation and a stark mission built at the Acoma pueblo in New Mexico the century prior are among 50 world heritage sites on the World Monuments Fund “Watch List” for 2016. The list, which is published annually, serves to draw attention to cultural sites at risk of being damaged by development and lack of care as well as social, political and natural forces.

Also on the list are four dozen other sites in 36 countries marking cultural development from prehistory to the present. This includes pre-Columbian glyphs in the desert of Chile, an ancient temple in Jordan, an 18th century British estate, early 20th century architecture in Tokyo and a radical Modernist stadium in Cambodia.

In addition, two significant sites in Mexico also made the list: Mexico City’s sprawling Chapultepec Park, which still contains vestiges of a pre-Columbian water management system, and the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, a former Jesuit seminary that served as a cradle of the country’s muralist movement in the early 20th century.