AUGUST 2007
WMF on the Web

WMF in the News

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Brancusi Book 
Brancusi's Endless Column, Ernest Beck, editor
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Greetings! 

We at WMF hope your summer is going well. As of this writing, WMF has 138 projects in the field, and at many of these sites our teams are taking advantage of the summer months to carry out much needed conservation work. As progress reports come in, we will share with you the latest information on the restorations you are supporting. In the meantime, here are just a few items of interest.


Best regards,

 

Bonnie Burnham

President

Mark your calendar: Hadrian turns 20!

Join Hadrian Award Luncheon Chairs Mica Ertegün, Nina Joukowsky Köprülü, and Sharon Patrick; Corporate Chair Harvey Golub, Executive Chairman, Ripplewood Holdings LLC; and the WMF Board of Trustees to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the prestigious Hadrian Award.

 
WMF will celebrate the 2007 Hadrian Award honorees Rahmi M. Koç, Honorary Chairman of Koç Holding A.Ş; Semahat S. Arsel, Chairman of the Vehbi Koç Foundation; and the entire Koç family for their leadership and commitment to the restoration, protection, and scholarship of Turkey's cultural heritage. 
 
Friday, October 19, 2007 at 12:00 noon
The Pierre Hotel
New York City

 

For additional information or to purchase tickets contact Jane Emerson at JEmrs@aol.com or World Monuments Fund at 646-424-9594.

Restoration Complete: The Chapel of San Pedro de Mórrope, Peru
A rare example of rural Andean architecture, the chapel of San Pedro de Mórrope was constructed in the mid-seventeenth century as part of an effort to bring Christianity to the indigenous Mochica, who for centuries had been living in relative isolation amid the windswept sands of Peru's North Coast.

Built on a rectangular plan using pre-Hispanic materials--including adobe, plaster-coated trunks of carob trees, reeds, and quincha, a mud-covered wood cane--San Pedro de Mórrope boasts a main altar built in the form of a stepped pyramid, reminiscent of the 1,700-year-old mud-brick burial mounds discovered more than a decade ago at the Moche site of Sipán, just a few kilometers to the west.

Until recently, exposure to the elements, including periodic torrential El Nińo rains, took its toll on San Pedro de Mórrope, damaging its roof, eroding the building's exterior plaster coating, and weakening adobe walls. While high humidity spawned biological growth on wooden supports, other architectural elements were damaged by water and inappropriate repairs.

Following the chapel's inclusion on WMF's 2002 Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites, a major restoration campaign was launched. Completed just this month, restoration work included not only conservation and stabilization of the roof, walls, and interior decorative paintings, but also the preservation and presentation of an extraordinary suite of pre-Hispanic burials and architectural features discovered during work to shore up the building's structural supports.
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