2021 in Review

January

The Traditional Bukharian Jewish Houses project was launched with the International Institute for Central Asian Studies to document and develop conservation strategies for these unique historic sites in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.

The traditional Bukharian Jewish houses are in the heart of the historic center of Bukhara, Uzbekistan, a World Heritage property since 1993. Despite their outstanding heritage value, these traditional houses are at risk of alterations and even disappearance.

February

Following the destruction of the Mosul Cultural Museum, Iraq, by ISIS in 2015, WMF joined an international heritage consortium that includes the International alliance for the protection of heritage in conflict areas (ALIPH), the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH), the Musée du Louvre, and the Smithsonian Institution to revitalize the building and plan the museum’s future as a vibrant gathering place that will aid in the city’s post-conflict recovery.

March

WMF joined the Climate Heritage Network, a group of arts, cultural, and heritage organizations dedicated to aiding communities in tackling climate change and achieving the ambitions of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

April

A pilot project was launched to conserve selected chivas and chaityas in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. The project includes documentation, restoration, and advocacy and community outreach to serve as a model for conservation of other shrines of the region.

May

The 2021 Paul Mellon Lecture, held virtually, featured Dr. Omar Sharifi, Country Director at the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies (AIAS), politician Rory Stewart, and Shoshana Stewart, CEO of Turquoise Mountain.

The discussion focused on how to protect Afghanistan’s cultural heritage 20 years after 9/11.

June

Participants in the Bridge to Crafts Careers program brought their stonemasonry skills to rehabilitating damaged grave markers at the African-American Cemetery in Rye, NY.

July

Chankillo Archaeoastronomical Complex in Peru was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Built over 2,300 years ago, it is considered the oldest astronomical observatory in the Americas.

For 11 years, WMF has worked to preserve Chankillo and contributed to the preparation of its nomination for listing as World Heritage.

August

WMF and the Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife embarked on a new restoration campaign at the Alhambra, Spain—the most important surviving remnant of the period of Islamic rule in the Iberian Peninsula.

Previously, WMF helped restore the exceptionally preserved coffered ceiling in the Oratorio del Partal, as seen here. The new round of work at the site will address conservation at the Torre de Comares.

September

On September 13, a group of 17 cyclists set off to complete the inaugural Iron to Iron long-distance cycling tour.

Connecting the last two remaining wrought iron viaducts in the United Kingdom, the tour kicked off at Mellon Viaduct and ended at Bennerley Viaduct, a 2020 World Monuments Watch site. World Monuments Fund Britain Executive Director John Darlington took part in the ride, cycling from Ledbury to Bromyard alongside fellow participants.

October

On October 19, 2021, WMF President and CEO Bénédicte de Montlaur joined Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, Minister of Culture, and François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Banque de France, in Paris, France, to inaugurate the reassembled interiors the Chancellerie d’Orléans on the ground floor of the Hôtel de Rohan in the French National Archives. The restoration of these interiors had been a WMF project since 2000.

In an act of spatial and social justice, the Biden administration restored the boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah on October 8, 2021.

This decision reversed President Trump’s 2017 decision to reduce the protected area by 85%, exposing large swaths of ancestral territory to drilling and mining, and without the resources necessary to protect from environmental degradation, vandalism, and looting. 

November

WMF launched important new projects at the Takiyyat Al-Gulshani in Cairo, Egypt; Cerro Sechín in Ancash, Peru; and Old Fourah Bay College in Freetown, Sierra Leone, thanks to the U.S. Department of State through the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation.

The launch of these new projects reflects WMF’s shared commitment to working with local communities to protect their heritage for future generations.

December

WMF awarded John Puttick Associates the 2021 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize, recognizing its thoughtful and detailed conservation on Preston Bus Station, located in Preston, UK, a civic monument of central importance that serves as a hub for mass transit.