World Monuments Fund
| Founded | 1965 |
|---|---|
| Founder | James A. Gray (1909-1994) |
| Type | Arts and Culture |
| 13-2571900 | |
| Focus | Architectural conservation, historic preservation, archaeology, cultural heritage management |
| Location | |
|
Area served
|
Global |
| Method | Fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, training |
|
Key people
|
Joshua David, President and Chief Executive Officer |
|
Revenue
|
$16.3 million (2010) |
| Website | http://www.wmf.org |
|
Formerly called
|
International Fund for Monuments (1965-1984) |
| WMF has affiliates in Cambodia, Peru, France, Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom | |
World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and training.
Founded in 1965, WMF is headquartered in New York, and has offices and affiliates around the world, including Cambodia, France, Peru, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. In addition to hands-on management, the affiliates identify, develop, and manage projects, negotiate local partnerships, and attract local support to complement funds provided by donors.
WMF describes its mission as "to preserve important historic architectural sites and works of art without regard to national boundaries".
The International Fund for Monuments (IFM) was an organization created by Colonel James A. Gray (1909-1994) after his retirement from the U.S. Army in 1960. Gray had conceived of a visionary project to arrest the settlement of the Leaning Tower of Pisa by freezing the soil underneath, and formed the organization in 1965 as a vehicle for the implementation of this idea. Even though this project did not materialize, an opportunity arose for the young organization to participate in the conservation of the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia. In 1966 Gray secured the support of philanthropist Lila Acheson Wallace (1889-1984), who offered $150,000 to the International Fund for Monuments and UNESCO for this project. The project continued until the Communist overthrow of Haile Selassie I and the subsequent expulsion of foreigners from Ethiopia. After Ethiopia, Gray's interests shifted to Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in Chile. Gray formed the Easter Island Committee, with Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl (1914–2002) as its honorary chairman. Gray arranged to have one of the monolithic human figures known as moai exhibited in the United States. With the help of anthropologist William Mulloy (1917-1978), Gray selected an 8-foot-tall (2.4 m), five-ton head, which was exhibited in front of the Seagram Building in New York and in the Pan American Union building in Washington, D.C.
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Wikipedia