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May 11, 2016

Ironing the Wrinkles in the History of Angkor’s Metal Industries

WMF’s drawing by our Project Coordinator (then Project Architect) Cheam Phally showing the location where iron clamps where originally inserted in the stone masonry.

Since the early 1990s WMF has worked to conserve the monastic complex of Preah Khan, making it possible for millions of visitors to enjoy the site. Over the years, we have been able to recover a number of iron clamps that were used in the construction of the monument. We were pleased to lend them for testing to researchers from the French National Research Agency and the University of Chicago, who are now finishing a new study of Angkor’s metal industries.

May 09, 2016

Sunny Sundays are Made for Modernism in London

On that rare thing—a glorious spring weekend morning in London—I was treated to a tour of the Isokon Building and Gallery in Hampstead. Built in the 1930s by Wells Coates for Jack and Molly Pritchard, the Isokon building epitomizes the values of the interwar modern period through its founding principles and design, as well as the challenges faced by modern architecture throughout the twentieth century.

May 06, 2016

Russian Heritage at Risk

The current state of heritage protection in Russia is discouraging and alarming.

May 04, 2016

Visiting Cuba

The 2016 World Monuments Watch includes three sites in Cuba. Norma Barbacci visited the sites in January.

May 03, 2016

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles—Destination: Romania

After a brief stop in Venice for a celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Jewish Ghetto—one of many that are planned throughout 2016—I traveled to Romania.

May 02, 2016

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles—Destination: Venice

One of the many perks of my job as Program Associate at World Monuments Fund is that every now and then, I get to travel to some of the sites under my purview. I have the opportunity to visit the wonderful projects I get to work on, and most of all, to meet with the local people involved at these sites.

April 28, 2016

Nowroz in Dalieh

Over the years, Dalieh—included on the 2016 Watch—has been used by a wide variety of social groups who have animated the life of this area while providing a form of sustainable livelihood for many low-income city-dwellers.

March 24, 2016

Restoration Continues at Garuda #39

Garuda #39, mock-up before final reassembly

Preah Khan temple at Angkor Archaeological Park is surrounded by 72 large carved Garudas, divine eagle-like beings that are the physical and symbolic protectors of the temple.

March 14, 2016

A Visit to Presbítero Maestro Cemetery in Lima

On October 30, 2015, I took the newly completed electric train in Lima and after a short ride I left the chaos of the city behind and entered an oasis of peace, of the rest-in-peace kind that is. I could not think of a more appropriate place to visit on the eve of Halloween, than the Presbítero Maestro Cemetery-Museum, a 2006 World Monuments Watch site.

November 12, 2015

Stabilizing Babylon

The Babylon Conservation Action Group was formed by the Babylon Committee, who oversees the Iraq State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) and World Monuments Fund partnership project.

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