News from World Monuments Fund

Constructing Conservation Narratives: The Patel Stadium and Other Modern Buildings

An On My Watch Event

Originally built to host international cricket matches, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad, India is one of the iconic buildings that helped establish a paradigm for modern India in the 1960s. 

On Friday, February 12 at 9:00 am (ET) // 7:30 pm (IST), join us for a virtual discussion on how conservation efforts at Patel Stadium, supported by the Getty Foundation's Keeping It Modern initiative, will contribute to creating a new model for the cultural and economic importance of restored modern architecture in India.

The conversation will feature Rahul Mehrotra, Founder Principal of RMA Architects and Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design; Mahendra Raj, Structural Consultant for the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium; Nitin Sangwan, Deputy Commissioner from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation; and Mukesh Kumar, Municipal Commissioner from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. The discussion will be moderated by WMF India Executive Director Amita Baig.

Safeguarding Underrepresented Heritage Through the Watch

Recent events across the globe are a stark reminder that certain groups have not only been overlooked, but actively excluded from representation in public space and in decision-making about what should be preserved and how. Through the World Monuments Watch, World Monuments Fund (WMF) seeks nominations that elevate untold stories and spotlight heritage that remains underrepresented.

In 2018, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) nominated Alabama Civil Rights sites such as the Malden Brothers Barber Shop to the Watch to raise awareness about local efforts to document and preserve places that played a significant role in the U.S. Civil Rights movement. The sites’ inclusion on the Watch led to Voices of Alabama, a collaborative oral history project that helped showcase a fuller story of America’s diversity and struggle for social justice.

Do you stand with a heritage place that speaks to this global issue? Join us by nominating a site to the 2022 Watch or helping us spread the word.

Post-Earthquake Restoration at Kumamoto Castle Town

Kumamoto Castle Town is a Japanese city dating back to the seventeenth century. After a series of earthquakes in 2016, hundreds of historic houses across the city were destroyed.

Over the past three years, WMF restored five of the historic houses with the support of The Freeman Foundation and in partnership with Kumamoto Machinami Trust (KMT), a non-profit organization dedicated to heritage preservation in Kumamoto.

In this interview, President of KMT Juko Ito and Founder and Secretary of KMT Kazuhiro Fujikawa shed light on the work to help transform the houses into a symbol of the city's recovery.

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