World Monuments Fund Releases List of Fifty Most Endangered Heritage Sites
A list has been released by the World Monuments Fund of the fifty locations that it deems most in danger of disappearing because of neglect, war, or natural forces, according to Hyperallergic’s Allison Meier. Among the fifty are two US sites: Mission San Xavier del Bac in Arizona and San Esteban del Rey Mission in New Mexico. In Cuba, the churches of Santiago de Cuba, the architecture of Havana’s El Vedado, and the deteriorating National Art Schools were all included in the list, as was the entire nation of Nepal, as it recovers from an earthquake earlier this year.
The list also includes an “Unnamed Monument,” because there are “too many sites at risk to be included individually on the watch, and no immediate hope for resolution.” No sites from Syria were included, but according to Newsweek, Lisa Ackerman, executive vice president of the WMF, said the organization “felt this time the nominations were complex, having to do with conflict zones, but we also felt the problem rises so much above any one monument.”