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 The World Monuments Fund (WMF), the foremost private, nonprofit
organization dedicated to preserving the historic, artistic, and
architectural heritage worldwide, has released its 2006 World Monuments
Watch list of 100 Most Endangered Sites. The biennial Watch list is a
call to action on behalf of threatened cultural heritage monuments
worldwide. By bringing the sites to international attention, the list
helps to raise the funds needed for their rescue and often spurs local
governments and communities to take an active role in protecting
cultural icons in their regions. For many landmarks, inclusion on the
Watch list is the best—and perhaps the only—hope for survival.
This year—for the first time in the 10-year history of the World
Monuments Watch— the list includes an entire country whose cultural
heritage is at great risk: Iraq, within whose borders lie some of the
world’s most significant archaeological and architectural sites. Decades
of political isolation, a protracted war with Iran, and, more recently,
the conflict begun in 2003 have put this extraordinary heritage at grave
risk. Widespread looting, military occupation, artillery fire,
vandalism, and other acts of violence are devastating Iraq, long
considered the “cradle of human civilization.”
“The World Monuments Watch provides a valuable barometer of the state of
heritage preservation worldwide,” said World Monuments Fund President
Bonnie Burnham. “The biennial Watch list tells us not only which sites
are in peril, but also what kinds of threats—natural disaster, war,
pollution, neglect, or other issues—are endangering the world’s
heritage. By focusing attention on imperiled sites, the World Monuments
Watch helps bring local communities, governments, and preservation
professionals together in order to save the places that speak of human
history. It is difficult to think of a more important time than today
for diverse groups to unite in the preservation of our shared heritage.”
The 2006 Watch list features sites from 55 countries on all seven
continents, including, for the first time, sites in Bangladesh, Cape
Verde, Eritrea, Iran, Mauritania, Samoa, and Sierra Leone, demonstrating
both growing awareness of the World Monuments Watch program and
increased recognition worldwide of the importance of preserving cultural
landmarks.
Taken together, the sites on the list comprise a diversity of building
types—from citadels and palaces to a prison, from churches and a
synagogue to cemeteries, from ancient cities and medieval mosques to a
modern airport and fairground; periods—from the earliest human
settlements some eight thousand years ago to constructions of the
mid-twentieth century; and threats—from rising water tables to urban
sprawl, earthquakes to planned governmental demolition, unsustainable
tourism to vandalism, looting, and war.
The 2006 list encompasses:
• 22 sites in Africa and the Middle East
• 26 in the Americas
• 1 in Antarctica
• 18 in Asia
• 1 in Australia
• 32 in Europe
 2006 Endangered Sites
The 2006 Watch list includes more modern buildings than ever before,
reflecting the increasing understanding of the importance of
twentieth-century architecture as part of our cultural heritage, and an
awareness of its fragile status. Nine modern sites are listed, including
the historic center of Asmara, Eritrea, a unique urban environment that
fuses Italian modernism with African highland culture; the International
Fairground at Tripoli, Lebanon, designed by Brazilian architect Oscar
Niemeyer; Lisbon’s Art Deco theater, the Teatro Capitolio; and New York
City’s 2 Columbus Circle, designed by Edward Durrell Stone and currently
at the center of an intense debate about the decision to significantly
modify it.
A broad array of historic Islamic sites is included on the 2006 Watch
list, eight in addition to those in Iraq. These include the
ninth-century Haji Piyada Mosque in Afghanistan, one of the earliest
structures in the eastern Islamic world; two sites in historic Cairo,
the sixteenth-century Tarabay al-Sharify complex and the
seventeenth-century Sabil Ruqayya Dudu; the thirteenth-century
Chinguetti Mosque in Chinguetti, Mauritania, considered the “seventh
city” of Islam and home to a unique collection of important Islamic
manuscripts; and two monumental medieval tomb complexes in Pakistan, the
Mian Nasir Mohammed Graveyard and the Thatta Monuments.
Two twelfth-century citadels, built during the Crusades, are also
listed: the Chehabi Citadel of Hasbaya, Wadi Taym, Lebanon, erected by
the Crusaders and wrested away in the 1170s by the Chehabi Emirs, whose
descendents have occupied it to this day; and the Shayzar Castle, near
Hama, Syria, defended in the time of Nur al-Din against the Franks
during the Crusades. In addition, the Watch list includes the Historic
Center of Prizren, Kososvo’s most important historic town, which
features architecture that represents both Christian and Islamic
traditions.
A number of archaeological sites on the Watch list exemplify the
geographical sweep of the Roman Empire at its height. These range from
the Segovia Aqueduct, a miracle of Roman engineering at the Empire’s
western edge, to Roman cities in the east, including the renowned
archaeological site of Aphrodisias, in Turkey, which features some of
the best-preserved examples of Greco-Roman architecture in the eastern
Mediterranean. In the capital is the Temple of Portunus—one of the best
preserved early Roman temples in the world. Archaeological sites in
other parts of the world that are on the Watch list include Chalcatzingo,
one of the most important early Olmec sites in Mexico, and Naranjo,
Guatemala’s second largest
Mayan site.
World Monuments Watch List
Launched in 1995, the biennial World Monuments Watch, with its list of
100 Most Endangered Sites, is one of the major program areas of the
World Monuments Fund. In order to create the Watch list, WMF calls for
nominations of sites from ministries of culture and international and
local preservation groups and professionals. All nominations must
include not
only information on the value of the site and the threats it confronts,
but also a concrete proposal for action that has local support.
The World Monuments Fund then convenes an independent panel of
international experts to review the hundreds of nominations received and
select 100 of them for inclusion on the list. The selection is based on
the significance of the sites, the urgency of the need for support, and
the viability of the conservation and/or advocacy plans. Previous lists
were released in 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004 and included sites
ranging from widely known landmarks such as the Taj Mahal, the Great
Wall of China, Pompeii, Teotihuacan, and the Valley of the Kings (now
part of the West Bank 2006 Watch listing), to
such lesser-known sites as the Larabanga Mosque, in Ghana, and the
National Art Schools, in Cuba.
Many endangered sites on previous lists have been rescued or are well on
their way to being preserved, thanks to timely intervention. Among
previous Watch-list sites where WMF is currently working are the Angkor
temples, in Cambodia; Petra, in Jordan; the Chateau of Chantilly, in
France; St. George’s Bloomsbury, in London; and the Jesuit Guaráni
Missions,
located in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.
The New York City-based World Monuments Fund—which celebrated its
fortieth anniversary in 2005—has achieved an unmatched record of
successful conservation in more than 80 countries. In 2003, WMF
established WMF Europe, based in Paris, in order to coordinate the work
of the organization’s affiliates in France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain,
and to expand its activities in Continental Europe. WMF in Britain,
located in London, addresses WMF’s agenda in the United Kingdom. Working
with these offices and affiliates, as well as with partners around the
world, WMF brings together public and private support to implement a
comprehensive conservation effort that includes project planning, field
surveys, fieldwork, onsite
training in the building crafts, advocacy, and the development of
long-term strategies for the protection of sites. For additional
information about WMF and its programs, the public can visit their
web site.
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