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January 13, 2012

2012: The Year of Jacmel

Jacmel’s historic district was included on the 2012 World Monuments Watch because of uncertainty about the fate of more than 100 historic buildings damaged in the 2010 earthquake. In the following field dispatch, advocate Louise Lo Presti describes a great new development for the city.
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First Day. 256 kg. This is the total weight of 15 pieces survey equipment we took to Kars for the Surp P’rikitch survey. We landed in Kars Airport at around 3 pm. We checked in the hotel and unloaded our equipment. We wanted to go to the site before dawn and check it before the actual work begins.
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Elizabeth Dengenis, a student, visited Angkor while on a gap year from university. All of WMF’s work is much needed, and their time and effort that goes into such detail is remarkable. They are certain to ensure accuracy and precision on everything they touch. Without their necessary conservation this incredible place would be lost forever.
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January 10, 2012

Miss Lassie's Mind's Eye

Miss Lassie’s House / Mind’s Eye is one of the Cayman Islands’ most historic cultural structures and the most unique of all traditional Caymanian homes. Built by Miss Lassie’s father with community assistance, construction began in 1879 and was completed in 1881.
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Arrival in Trujillo by bus, the only way of getting to the town without a private car, affords the visitor a sense of discovery as you wend your way uphill from the bland, modern city, through increasingly narrowing streets, until you arrive, suddenly, at the expansive Plaza Mayor. It is a brief walk from beginning to end, no more than five or ten minutes, but the atmospheric transition is extraordinary and well worth the journey.
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Tucked discretely into the northeastern corner of the Forbidden City and removed from the palace’s sprawling stone squares, towering Imperial architecture, and hordes of tourists—each sporting the bright, colorful kitsch of their respective guide services—the Qianlong Garden rests, quietly distilling in nearly a century of forgotten tranquility.
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Today was garuda day. Fierce bird-men that appear in both Buddhist and Hindu mythologies, 72 massive sandstone garudas guard the outer wall of Preah Khan, an enormous twelfth-century temple complex that is WMF’s longest-running project at Angkor. I’m putting together some new material for the visitor center here, and the first step was to head out into the jungle to take some new, high-resolution photos of last year’s conservation of garuda #55 (above).
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I knew it! The cocktail cure for jetlag worked like a charm, and I’m back on schedule. I spent all day in the office today, which is a bit dispiriting when you know that one of the great archaeological wonders of the world is a few minutes away.
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Time once again for a few blog entries from me, Ken, the art director here at World Monuments Fund. Please don’t expect a lot of coherence from this first one, since I’m on the last leg of the flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia, and the jet lag is starting to kick in.
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