Colon Theater at risk
Bonnie Burnham, President of the World Monuments Fund ( WMF), today announced the 2010 World Monuments Watch. For more than 40 years, WMF, a nonprofit organization, has worked to preserve cultural heritage across the globe.
The 2010 Watch includes 93 sites now at risk, representing 47 countries. These include 9 sites from the United States and 15 dating from the 20th century.
The Watch is WMF’s flagship advocacy program, and it calls international attention to threatened cultural heritage.
“We believe it is important to increase international pressure to protect these places in Buenos Aires, which have a unique value within the historic fabric of the city. The Teatro Colon also represents an architectural gem of the highest artistic level globally,” explained Burnham.
The WMF complaint that the controversial government plan to renew the theater built in 1908 “caused the closure of the building, dismantled all its activities, dispersed its staff without a clear action plan and timetable for its reopening.
Ranging from the famous ( Machu Picchu, Peru ) and remote (Phajoding, a monastery high in the mountains of Bhutan ), to the unexpected ( Merritt Parkway, Connecticut, U.S. ) and little-known (desert castles of ancient Khorezm, Uzbekistan ), the 2010 Watch tells compelling stories of human aspiration, imagination, and adaptation. The need for collective action and sustainable stewardship are common themes running through the 2010 list, and the 93 sites vividly illustrate the ever-more pressing need to create a balance between heritage concerns and the social, economic, and environmental interests of communities around the world.
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