From Machu Picchu to the Merritt Parkway: World Monuments Fund Announces Watch List
By Stephanie Murg on Oct 28, 2009 12:20 PM
The World Monuments Fund has announced its 2010 World Monuments Watch, a biennial list of at-risk cultural heritage sites. The new list consists of 93 sites from 47 countries. Along with the famous and ancient—Machu Picchu (pictured), Pakistani petroglyphs, Bhutan's fragile Phajoding monastery—the list highlights the plight of modern architecture. Fifteen sites, including Connecticut's Merritt Parkway, date from the 20th century. Modern buildings on the 2010 Watch include Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin and Taliesin West, in the United States, and the now-abandoned Sanatorium Joseph Lemaire, in Belgium. Also making the list is Las Pozas, the "Surrealist Xanadu" created by eccentric British artist Charles James in Xilitia, Mexico. Constructed in the mid-20th century, the series of canals, pools, and architectural follies is now crumbling and being engulfed by the surrounding jungle, according to the WMF.
"With a greater number of urban centers and cultural landscapes, this year's Watch reflects a growing understanding that heritage cannot be preserved in isolation, but rather must be addressed as part of a broad physical and social context," explained Erica Avrami, WMF's Research and Education Director, in a statement accompanying the 2010 list. "Not all sites on the Watch are in imminent danger. Many face challenges on the horizon, providing the opportunity to engage in dialogue and decision-making now, so as to avoid problems in the future."
Read on for the full WMF 2010 World Monuments Watch list.
AFGHANISTAN
Old City of Herat
ARGENTINA
Buenos Aires Historic Center
Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires
ARMENIA
Aghjots Monastery, Garni Village
AUSTRIA
Wiener Werkbundsiedlung, Vienna
BAHRAIN
Suq al-Qaysariya, Muharraq
BELGIUM
Sanatorium Joseph Lemaire, Tombeek
BHUTAN
Phajoding, Thimphu
BOLIVIA
Convento-Museo Santa Teresa, Cochabamba
Misiones Jesuíticas de Chiquitos
CHILE
Churches of Arica Parinacota
COLOMBIA
San Fernando and San José Fortresses, Cartagena de Indias
Santa Fe de Antioquia Historic Center
COMOROS
Ujumbe Palace, Mutsamudu
CYPRUS
Historic Walled City of Famagusta
ECUADOR
Todos Santos Complex, Cuenca
EGYPT
New Gourna Village, Luxor, West Bank
Old Mosque of Shali Fortress, Siwa Oasis
FRANCE
Hôtel de Monnaies, Villemagne l'Argentière
Parish Church of Saint-Martin-des-Puits
GREECE
Churches of Lesvos
GUATEMALA
Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala City
HAITI
Gingerbread Houses, Port-au-Prince
INDIA
Chiktan Castle, Kargil
Dechen Namgyal Gonpa, Nyoma
Historic Civic Centre of Shimla
Kothi, Qila Mahmudabad
IRAQ
Al-Hadba' Minaret, Mosul
IRELAND
Russborough, Blessington, County Wicklow
ISRAEL
Old City of Lod
OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM
Cathedral of Saint James
ITALY
Historic Center of Craco
Ponte Lucano, Tivoli
Villa of San Gilio, Oppido Lucano
JAPAN
Kyoto Machiya Townhouses
JORDAN
Damiya Dolmen Field, Jordan Valley
KAZAKHSTAN
Vernacular Architecture of the Kazakh Steppe Sary-Arka
LAO PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
Hintang Archaeological Landscape, Houameuang District
Tam Ting, Nam Kong River at Ban Pak Ou
MEXICO
Acueducto de Tembleque, Zempoala to Otumba
Las Pozas, Xilitla
Templo de San Bartolo Soyaltepec
Templo de San Felipe Tindaco, Tlaxiaco
Templo y Convento de los Santos Reyes, Convento de la Communidad, Metztitlán
REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
Assumption of Our Lady Church, Causeni
MOROCCO
Lixus, Larache
PAKISTAN
Petroglyphs in the Diamer-Basha Dam Area, Northern Areas
Shikarpoor Historic City Center
PANAMA
Colón Historic Center Corozal Cemetery, Panama City
Mount Hope Cemetery, Colón
PARAGUAY
La Santísima Trinidad del Paraná, Trinidad
PERU
Chankillo, San Rafael District
Jesuit Churches of San José and San Javier, Nazca
Pachacamac Sanctuary, Lurín Pikillaqta, Cuzco
Santuario Histórico Machu Picchu, Cuzco
Tambo Colorado, Humay
San Francisco de Asís de Marcapata
Santa Cruz de Jerusalén de Juli
PHILIPPINES
Nuestra Señora de la Asunción Church, Municipality of Santa Maria
Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, Ifugao
San Sebastian Basilica, Manila
ROMANIA
Fortified Churches of Southern Transylvania, Sibiu
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Church of the Icon of the Mother of Godof the Sign, Podolsk District
SLOVAKIA
Lietava Castle
SOUTH AFRICA
Wonderwerk Cave, Ga-Segonyana/Kuruman
SPAIN
Historic Landscape of Sevilla
Historic Landscape of Toledo
Numancia, Soria and Garray
Old Town of Ávila
Route of Santiago de Compostela
Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, Barcelona
SRI LANKA
Dutch Fort in Batticaloa
TANZANIA
Pangani Historic Town
UGANDA
Wamala King's Tombs, Nansana, Wakiso District
UNITED KINGDOM
Carlisle Memorial Methodist Church, Belfast
Edinburgh Historic Graveyards
Sheerness Dockyard
St. John the Evangelist Parish Church, Shobdon
Tecton Buildings at Dudley Zoological Gardens
UNITED STATES
The Atlanta-Fulton Central Public Library, Atlanta, Georgia
The Bridges of the Merritt Parkway, Connecticut
Cultural Landscape of Hadley, Massachusetts
Miami Marine Stadium, Florida
Phillis Wheatley Elementary School, New Orleans, Louisiana
St. Louis Cemetery No. 2, New Orleans, Louisiana
Taliesin, Spring Green, Wisconsin
Taliesin West, Scottsdale, Arizona
Taos Pueblo, New Mexico
UZBEKISTAN
Desert Castles of Ancient Khorezm, Republic of Karakalpakstan
VENEZUELA
Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas