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July 21, 2011

Following the Water

This summer, three students in Historic Preservation from Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation are conducting a conservation study for Moni Perivolis, a historic convent on the island of Lesvos, Greece, and 11 other churches on the same island that were included in the World Monuments Watch in 2008 and 2010. Below, Tony Baragona describes the investigation of the movement of water at Moni Perivolis

July 19, 2011

Revitalizing Edinburgh's Famous Burial Grounds

When five historic graveyards in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, landed on the 2010 World Monuments Watch, it was a long-needed wake-up call that something had to be done to improve conditions at these decaying historic sites.

July 16, 2011

Castle Sinclair Girnigoe: Precarious but Safe

I was surprised by the sight of other cars in the parking lot for Castle Sinclair Girnigoe. Since I encountered no signs to the castle in Wick, the nearest town, and had made several wrong turns in getting there down single-lane roads flanked on either side by vast fields, I figured I would have the place to myself.

July 07, 2011

A Trek to Kilwa Kisiwani, Part II

The island of Kilwa Kisiwani sits just off the coast of Kilwa Misoko, surrounded by deep blue water and verdant mangroves hovering over white sand that blankets a gently rising coast. Baobabs stand sentry over the island, bulbous masters of a sun-drenched domain.

July 05, 2011

A Trek to Kilwa Kisiwani, Part I

Stuck. Again. And yet, this time, the only nuance to our predicament was that our bus, ensnared by two feet of unrelenting Tanzanian mud impervious and unsympathetic to our ambitions of reaching the coast in anything resembling a reasonable timeframe, was clearly going nowhere.

June 29, 2011

Chile Mission Dispatch

Seeing the churches of Arica-Parinacota come back to life through the efforts of Fundacion Altiplano, and their Chilean, Peruvian, Ecuadorian, German, and North American experts, is satisfying. World Monuments Fund is proud to have a role in the revitalization of these communities.

June 21, 2011

Phillis Wheatley Elementary School Demolished

Phillis Wheatley Elementary School, designed by Charles Colbert and built in the mid-1950s, was considered one of the most significant pieces of modern architecture in New Orleans. Abandoned after Hurricane Katrina even though it survived the storm very well, the threat of demolition loomed over the structure for several years.

June 11, 2011

WMF Congratulates John Stubbs on Tulane Appointment

World Monuments Fund congratulates John Stubbs on his appointment at Tulane University as Senior Professor of Architectural Practice and the Director of the MS Program in Preservation Studies.

June 02, 2011

Mission Pittsburgh

On June 1, I traveled to Pittsburgh to testify at a City Council meeting with regard to the preservation of the Pittsburgh Civic Arena (popularly known as the “Igloo”), a modernist domed structure with a retractable roof built in 1961. Preservation Pittsburgh and Reuse the Igloo, a grassroots group led by Robert Pfaffmann, an architect in Pittsburgh, proposed the building for local landmark designation earlier this year after it was abandoned by the Pittsburgh Penguins, a hockey team who moved into a new stadium nearby.

May 27, 2011

Official Cambodian Delegation Visits WMF

From May 14 to 20, WMF hosted a delegation of officials from Cambodia to conduct a conservation planning workshop for Phnom Bakheng, one of the oldest temples in the Angkor Archaeological Park. WMF began working on this project in 2004 and conducted a series of surveys to understand the conditions and conservation challenges of the site. Since that time, WMF has been engaged with APSARA National Authority in a comprehensive conservation program, which is ongoing.

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