NEW YORK CITY.- The World Monuments Fund (WMF) and American Express Company today announced the names of nine endangered historic sites to receive preservation funding through WMF’s World Monuments Watch program. Since 1996, 100 sites in 52 countries have been awarded nearly $8 million by American Express, founding sponsor of the program. This year’s grants to the World Monuments Watch program totaled $764,000.
Sites selected for funding this year include: Vila de Paranapiacaba, Santo André, Brazil; Banteay Chhmar, Thmar Puok, Cambodia; Shaxi Market Area, Shaxi Zen, China; Terezin Fortress, Terezin, Czech Republic; Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Thebes, Egypt;
San Juan de Ulua Fort, Veracruz, Mexico; San Lorenzo Castle and San Geronimo Fort, Panama; Church of our Savior and Historic Center, Rostov Veliky, Russia; and San Esteban del Rey Mission, Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico, United States. All of them were listed on the 2002 World Monuments Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites, which is based on nominations by concerned citizens and groups around the world.
American Express is a founding sponsor of WMF’s World Monuments Watch program, established in 1995 to draw attention to and ensure the preservation of imperiled historic, artistic, and architectural sites worldwide. American Express’s ten-year, $10 million commitment to this program has enabled WMF to leverage millions of dollars of additional funding from local and national governments, global corporations, foundations, and individuals, and has encouraged new preservation activism worldwide.
Bonnie Burnham, WMF president, said, "We began the World Monuments Watch in response to the urgent need to preserve our built heritage-a heritage that represents all human history and cultures. The funding from American Express, for new sites and continued support for others, is instrumental to the program’s success. These generous grants help ensure that these valuable cultural heritage monuments are saved for future generations."
Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman and CEO of American Express Company, stated, "These cultural landmarks we are helping to preserve reflect cultures and communities that date back as far as the sixteenth century B.C. They are a great source of local pride and, by attracting visitors from throughout the world, they promote a global understanding of our common history and heritage."
World Monuments Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites
Every other year, the World Monuments Fund invites governments and nongovernmental organizations around the world to nominate endangered sites for inclusion on the World Monuments Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites. WMF then convenes an independent panel of experts who are leaders in the fields of archaeology, architecture, art history, and historic preservation to review the hundreds of nominations and select for inclusion on the list the most compelling sites with the greatest threats.
Ranging from such widely known landmarks as the Great Wall of China to the lesser-known National Art Schools in Cuba, to the 1,500-year-old stupas and temples of the Sri-Ksetra Temples in Myanmar, the World Monuments Watch list reaches across the globe and touches upon virtually every historical era. Each year, American Express selects individual sites from the current list to receive grants.
Since its inception in 1995, the World Monuments Fund’s Watch program has awarded 315 grants totaling nearly $26.3 million to aid 157 sites in 64 countries. An estimated $58.4 million more has been leveraged directly to the sites from governments, businesses, individuals, and institutions for an estimated total of $84.7 million, including the grants being announced today.