Our cultural heritage is a legacy shared across generations and geographic boundaries. An important part of the work of conservation is to raise awareness of and appreciation for treasured places, and to ensure their survival and lasting role in society. Watch Day 2012 provided an important opportunity to engage youth—the future stewards of this legacy—in creative activities that highlight the history, design, and traditions of their local World Monuments Watch sites. Through performing and visual arts, oral histories and ancient crafts, young people around the globe brought renewed hope to the heritage sites in their communities, helping to make the past part of a brighter future.
Local students participated in a photography workshop in
Jacmel, Haiti, taking images of historic buildings.
An exhibition of photographs of
Jacmel’s built heritage, taken by local students, was mounted for Watch Day and the images were sold, raising funds for preservation.
Schoolchildren painted watercolors at the archaeological site of
Stobi, Macedonia, replicating scenes and motifs from the ancient complex.
A mosaic panel made by schoolchildren who participated in a mosaic workshop at
Stobi. The students learned how this art form played a celebrated role in the architecture of the past.
A young girl performs a traditional dance during the Watch Day and annual festival in
Sawara, Japan.
Schoolchildren of Palpa create drawings of the geoglyphs of
Nasca, Peru, learning about these ancient vestiges.
A colored drawing of famous geoglyphs from
Nasca, created by local students.
Children perform the story of a woman who was abducted during a seventeenth-century siege, and who managed to return many years later to help repair the
St. Paraskewa Church.
Students participated in a drawing contest of the Gingerbread Neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Young artists were inspired by the wall paintings at Mind’s Eye, Cayman Islands.
Students created visionary art inspired by Miss Lassie’s work at
Mind’s Eye.
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