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You’ve probably heard of UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites and its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage practices, but it’s not the only body out there seeking to protect sites that are important to us and our history.
The World Monuments Fund is another organisation highlighting vital cultural places that are at risk across 29 different countries, and it produces a list of new inclusions every other year.
Since its inception 30 years ago, the WMF has contributed more than $120 million towards preservation efforts across the world, and helped communities secure an additional $300 million on top of that. No wonder then that this year, 200 places were nominated for inclusion.
Of those 200, 25 were selected, including two vital areas ravaged by conflict. One of these is the urban fabric of Gaza (or what remains of it), which ‘emphasises the critical need to prepare recovery efforts using heritage to anchor collective memory and a shared sense of belonging’.
The other is Kyiv’s historic Teacher’s House, the former legislative seat of a newly independent Ukraine, which was severely damaged by a 2022 missile attack. This inclusion ‘underscores the role of cultural heritage in fostering unity and morale as communities rebuild’.
The Qhapaq Ñan, a pre-Hispanic Andean road network that connects Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador and Chile, is also on the list, thanks to being threatened by environmental degradation.
But 2025 is the first year that the WMF has expanded its list to go beyond the realms of our planet by including the Moon. Why? Well, CEO Bénédicte de Montlaur told The Art Newspaper: ‘Safeguarding lunar heritage will prevent damage from accelerating private and governmental activities in space, ensuring these artefacts endure for future generations.’
Our sole natural satellite’s addition to the endangered list comes after news that the first piece of art landed on the Moon last week.
Check out the WMF’s list below.
These are the 25 new WMF watch sites for 2025
- Monasteries of the Drino Valley, Albania
- Cinema Studio Namibe, Angola
- Qhapaq Ñan, Andean Road System, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
- Buddhist Grottoes of Maijishan and Yungang, China
- Swahili Coast Heritage Sites, Comoros, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania
- Chapel of the Sorbonne, France
- Serifos Historic Mining Landscape, Greece
- Bhuj Historic Water Systems, India
- Musi River Historic Buildings, India
- Noto Peninsula Heritage Sites, Japan
- Erdene Zuu Buddhist Monastery, Mongolia
- Jewish Heritage of Debdou, Morocco
- Chief Ogiamien’s House, Nigeria
- Gaza Historic Urban Fabric, Palestine
- Waru Waru Agricultural Fields, Peru
- Ruins of Old Belchite, Spain
- Water Reservoirs of the Tunis Medina, Tunisia
- Historic City of Antakya, Türkiye
- Kyiv Teacher’s House, Ukraine
- Belfast Assembly Rooms, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
- The Great Trading Path, United States
- Historic Lighthouses of Maine, United States
- Barotse Floodplain Cultural Landscape, Zambia
- The Moon
To read more about the world monuments watch for 2025, you can do so here.
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