Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and World Monuments Fund Collaborate on Historic Conservation Project in Eastern Turkey

Bonnie Burnham, President of World Monuments Fund (WMF), today announced that WMF and the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism have embarked on a historic partnership to conserve the Ani Cathedral and the Church of the Holy Savior, in Ani, a medieval city in northeastern Turkey. Once the site of hundreds of religious buildings, palaces, fortifications, and other structures, Ani was, in the tenth century, one of the world’s great cities. Today, however, it stands abandoned, and its celebrated historic buildings are in a precarious state. Support for these conservation projects has been provided by the U.S. Department of State’s Ambassadors Fund, the Turkish General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, and World Monuments Fund.