World Monuments Fund
JUNE 2009 E-NEWS 
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WMF in the News

British Monastery Wins Awards

Gorton Monastery

Gorton Monastery in Manchester, England, a Victorian building on the 1998 and 2000 Watch lists, was recently rescued following a successful fundraising effort by the Monastery of Saint Francis and Gorton Trust. The building received the 2009 awards for best project and best conservation project from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Hope for Scottish Modernist Gem

St. Peter's Seminary, Cardross

St. Peter's Seminary in Cardross, Scotland, might be saved thanks to a grant from the Scottish Arts Council. The plan is to turn the ruined seminary and surrounding woodlands into an arts center with indoor and outdoor displays.
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2008 Annual Report Now Online
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Juanqinzhai BookDonate $50 or more online before June 30, 2009, and get a free copy of one of the following books: Juanqinzhai, St. George's Bloomsbury, or Brancusi's Endless Column.
Convent Treasures on Show in Tokyo
Imperial Convents Exhibition
An unprecedented exhibition of objects from the Japanese Imperial Buddist Convents in Kyoto and Nara was held in the University Art Museum of the Tokyo University of the Arts this spring, drawing nearly 100,000 visitors. It featured WMF's work at Chuguji Convent in Nara with a life-size facsimile of the convent's imperial reception room (pictured). The exhibiton, partly sponsored by the Tiffany and Co. Foundation, provides a glimpse into life in the convents and showcases treasures that fill their rooms.
2008 Watch Updates
Frank Lloyd Wright Textile Block Conference at Florida Southern College
Florida Southern College
In April WMF convened a group of experts at Florida Southern College to discuss the conservation of Frank Lloyd Wright's ensemble of buildings designed for the campus. FSC has the largest collection of Wright buildings in one location, and the concrete textile blocks used to construct them have long been plagued by problems.

 
Conservation work on the Lower Chapel
Banská Stiavnica
WMF Technical Director Mark Weber recently returned from a field visit to Banská Stiavnica. The 22 buildings of this 18th-century Catholic complex in the Slovakian countryside were badly deteriorating, but we have made good progress on several of them. Conservation of the Lower Church and its two adjoining chapels is expected to be completed this fall.
Mali Update
Arou Temple in the Bandiagara region 
Back in October, we reported on a conservation project at Arou Temple, one of the oldest structures Bandiagara, Mali, a cultural landscape that runs along a vast escarpment. Our project there, now completed, went beyond the physical conservation of the building. Training the local community in conservation techniques and developing a tourism infrastructure will create jobs that will keep the area vibrant.
Medieval German Chapel Survives Wars, Communism
Burgkapelle Inauguration
WMF recently conserved the 15th-century Burgkapelle in Ziesar in eastern Germany, a rare surviving example of a late Gothic chapel with a completely painted interior. Once used by the bishops of Brandenburg, the chapel walls were cracked, allowing water and salt infiltration and biological growth on the paintings. We began work in 2007 and the chapel was opened to the public in April 2009.
 
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