HERITAGE ON THE WIRE

GHF Pingyao Wins 2012 Travel + Leisure
Global Vision Award for Preservation

We are pleased to announce that GHF Pingyao has been selected as a recipient of a 2012 Travel + Leisure Global Vision Award in the Preservation category. The annual awards recognize the “outstanding efforts of individuals and organizations that are working to preserve the world’s natural and man-made treasures.”

In its October 2012 issue, Travel + Leisure praises the GHF-led restoration of several of Pingyao’s historic courtyard houses. Today, one of those houses operates as a bed-and-breakfast, while another has become an important community facility with a lecture hall and studio that serves to preserve the intangible heritage of Pingyao through community craft workshops, weekly lectures and broadcasts on the local Pingyao culture and dialect.

HERITAGE ON THE WIRE

GHF Hampi Wins UNESCO-Asia Pacific Heritage Award


	Chandramauleshwar Temple, Hampi, India.

Eight years after GHF began its project at Hampi, India, the conservation team’s tremendous efforts to stabilize and restore the stunning Chandramauleshwar Temple have been recognized by UNESCO-Asia Pacific with an Award of Merit for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

In announcing the awards, the jury called the project a “benchmark for conservation practice at archaeological sites in India.” In addition to being the first pilot project for the restoration of a state-protected monument at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hampi, the public-private partnership between the Government of Karnataka and Hampi Foundation, GHF’s key partners in the project, is a pioneering initiative that can serve as a “worthy model for future conservation projects” within the site and across the region.

Global Heritage Network

GHN Report Draws International Press
on Damage to Syria’s Cultural Heritage

In May GHN published a comprehensive summary of the known damage to cultural heritage sites in Syria, prepared by Durham University PhD student Emma Cunliffe. Titled “Damage to the Soul: Syria’s Cultural Heritage in Conflict,” the report draws from a number of sources to present a picture of the destruction – from looting to shelling – that is afflicting cultural heritage sites as a result of the ongoing conflict in the country. Since its publication, the report has been cited extensively by international media outlets including National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal and the New Zealand Herald.

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Read the Report >>

HERITAGE ON THE WIRE

Çatalhöyük Added to World Heritage List

From 2006 to 2010, Global Heritage Fund was pleased to support conservation and community development at Çatalhöyük, one of the largest and best preserved Neolithic sites found to date. Two years later, we are proud to report that Çatalhöyük has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Events

GHF, Asia Society Host “The Forum on Global Heritage in a Developing World: Focus on Asia”

GHF had a day to remember at the Asia Society in New York on May 3rd, hosting The Forum on Global Heritage in a Developing World: Focus on Asia, a discussion of development challenges facing Asia’s most important and endangered heritage sites. The event featured a diverse program of speakers and panelists, and was well-attended by leading experts in conservation, development, venture philanthropy, technology, travel, academia and media.

Dr. Vishakha N. Desai, President of Asia Society, welcomed participants and attendees with an introductory speech about the current state of heritage and development in Asia. She was followed by Shirley Young, Chair of the US-China Cultural Institute and Governor of the Committee of 100, who spoke about the importance of protecting global heritage sites.

Publications

Saving Our Vanishing Heritage:
Asia’s Heritage in Peril

GHF has released a new report highlighting 10 of Asia’s most significant archaeological and heritage sites facing irreparable loss and destruction due to five accelerating man-made threats: development pressures, unsustainable tourism, insufficient management, looting, and war and conflict. The list includes:

- Ayutthaya, Thailand
- Fort Santiago and Intramuros, Philippines
- Kashgar, China
- Mahasthangarh, Bangladesh
- Mes Aynak, Afghanistan
- Myauk-U, Myanmar
- Plain of Jars, Laos
- Preah Vihear, Cambodia
- Rakhigari, India
- Taxila, Pakistan

Each of these sites, like hundreds of others around the developing world, represents a vast, untapped economic opportunity for its host nation and local communities in need. The list was compiled by GHF experts based on the 2010 study, Saving Our Vanishing Heritage, which surveyed 500 major sites in developing countries to evaluate current loss and destruction, conservation and development.

Click here to read Asia’s Heritage in Peril >>

GHF in the News

GHF and Current World Archaeology (CWA)
Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of World Heritage

To celebrate the 40-year anniversary of UNESCO World Heritage, Current World Archaeology (CWA), a popular British world archaeology magazine, has launched a new webpage in partnership with GHF to raise awareness of important and endangered cultural heritage sites, what we can do to save them, and how they can improve the lives of future generations across the developing world. CWA’s World Heritage page features a brief history of the convention and links to stories about global heritage sites recognized and not recognized by UNESCO World Heritage.

Click here to find out more >>