Largely closed to the public for more than 80 years, the garden’s 27 buildings and pavilions, as well as its rockeries and ancient trees, have been described by one senior Forbidden City official as a “jewel”—and with good reason. Restoring them has been the work of a rare partnership between the Palace Museum, which since 1925 has been responsible for the Forbidden City, and a foreign NGO, the New York-based World Monuments Fund.
Threatened Buddhist art at a 900-year-old monastery high in the Indian Himalayas sheds light on a fabled civilization.
Anne Bass, the New York City socialite known for her philanthropic endeavors in the ballet world, visited Cambodia on a World Monuments Fund trip in 2000. In Angkor Wat she saw a group of teenagers present a native dance and couldn't shake the performance of one of the boys from her memory, and produced a documentary film about her efforts to sponsor the teenager.
Visiting endangered places — even ones that rely on tourism dollars — gives many an eco-traveler pause. To avoid contributing to the harm, check out the World Monuments Fund’s 2010 Watch List of Endangered Sites before planning a trip.
