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1 '•^Ctf^' o • *uJ *r • • »'* • $m l'í'^^i* 5^ && wr&M -5 ^ *•*«*"* M K *• f A» JBMM JT REDISCOVERING CUBA'S II B Vi r NATIONAL ART SCHOOI •rrnitn.,/-.' .'Y^XÍ' '!lmr> Proud supporters of the WORLD MONUMENTS WATCH The World Monuments Fund and founding sponsor American Express created the World Monuments Watch in 1996. American Express has committed through 2005, $10 million dollars over ten years, to fund preservation projects. For the past five years, TRAVEL + LEISURE Magazine, has devoted a special section to raise awareness of and funds for the World Monuments Watch. We are proud to be a part of the cause and each year donate ten percent of all net advertising revenue generated through the special section to the World Monuments Fund. TRAVEL + LEISURE WORLD MONUMENTS WINTER 2002/2003 FEATURES Destruction and Hope The state of Afghanistan's ancient monuments 16 Chronicle in Stone A Manueline masterpiece reborn Abode of the Gods Sacred shrines of Kathmandu 26 Castro's Dream Rediscovering Cuba's National Art Schools Catalysts for Change Private trusts as critical tools in preservation Building New Delhi The British capital of India was built as a garden-city, world-renowned for its civic grace Next Stop: Mongolia Restoring the Bogd Khan Palace in Ulaanbaatar DEPARTMENTS From the President From Ihc Ftlilor News Ex [ibris Expedition:South America ON THE COVER Thirteenth-century Masjid-i-Jami (Great or Friday Mosque), Herat, Afghanistan © Sabrina and Roland Michaud World Monuments ICON (ISSN 1539-4190) is published quarterly by the World Monuments Fund», 95 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, tel .1 646-424-9594, fax >1 646-424-9593, e-mail ¡con<°>wmf.org. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Subscriptions: one year, S17.95; two years, S32.95; Single numbers, S4.95. Foreign orders, add S5.00 per year. Supporters of the World Monuments Fund receive ICON as a perquisite of mem bership. Manuscripts, books for review, and advertising inquiries should be sent to the Editor. World Monuments ICON, 95 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016. All manuscripts subject to review. We are not responsible for unso licited material. All rights reserved. © 2002 World Monuments Fund _ y ^ printed on recycled paper OF WORLD MONUMENTS FUND Iii the Wake of Disaster even hours before floods submerged Dresden last August, rescue work began in earnest at the build ings that house the Zwinger, the city's extraordinary state picture collection, and the Albertina, its sculpture gallery. A small staff team, later joined by volunteers, worked through the night in darkness Safter electricity failed, water rising around their knees, to carry every work of art from basement vaults into the galleries above. In all, some 4,000 paintings, 8,000 sculptures and plaster casts, and 500 frames were carried to safety that night. Nothing was lost in the order ly evacuation process. When I visited Dresden a month later, the art works were stacked neatly against the walls and damask canapés, roped off so that the museums could remain open to the public. Upriver at Worlitz, local residents desperately sandbagged against the rising waters. When the water nevertheless overflowed a dyke and flooded their village, they redoubled their efforts to save the pictur esque eighteenth-century Gartenreich, or "garden kingdom," frantically digging away portions of the failed dyke so that the waters would fur ther inundate the town and their own homes, but avoid the museum park. The Worlitz Gartenreich—a World HUNDREDS OF STATUES WERE RESCUED FROM Heritage site that was on WMF's Watch list in 2000—escaped major damage. But recovery from the recent THEIR STORAGE VAULTS AS RISING WATERS Eastern European floods may take years, even decades. INUNDATED DRESDEN'S In order to learn from this catastrophe, massive public outreach and response are necessary. In fact, over ALBERTINA MUSEUM, THANKS TO THE HEROIC the last year there have been many conferences on the theme of preparation for cultural-heritage disasters. EFFORTS OF CURATORS AND VOLUNTEERS. Yet little has been done to advance concrete planning for such disasters, which, perhaps by definition, continue to catch us unaware wherever and whenever they occur. The urgent challenge facing global conservation organizations is to create a mechanism through which additional outside resources can be channeled immedi ately and effectively to bolster local efforts when disaster strikes. WMF is, in fact, in the design phase of a major project to improve its own emergency response. Likewise, it is critical that individual institutions create preparedness plans for disasters, including ones for which they may have no precedent. We must never assume that luck, or history, is on our side. ICON' WINTER 2002/2003 CHRISTIE'S Helping Collectors Since 1766 For more information about buying or selling at auction please call 212 636 2000 or visit us at www.christies.com T K. T 1 X "N EDITOR From the Editor Angela M.H. Schuster ovember is acque alte in Venice, a time when the ART DIRECTOR Ken Feisel Moon and Mother Nature conspire to inundate CONTRIBUTING EDITORS the ancient city, threatening its magnificent artis Colin Amery Glenn Boornazian tic treasures. While this season has brought its Brian Curran Leila Hadley Luce share of high water, little could compare with the 194-cm tide Patwant Singh Andrew W. Solomon that struck the city just before sunset on November 4,1966, and EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD the damage left in its wake. That tumultuous event forever Mica Ertegun VENICE'S PIAZZA SAN MARCO AWASH AFTER A SEASON Cornelia W. Higginson ALLY HIGH TIDE OF 147 CM ON NOVEMBER 16, 2002. changed the history of la Serenissima and the field of preserva Henry Tzu Ng Peter M.F. Sichel tion, serving as a catalyst in the harnessing of international sup John H.Stubbs port to rescue a single site. It was also this catastrophe that gave rise to the World Monuments Fund and affirmed its mandate to work to safeguard the world's cultural patrimony. In the decades since, WMF has supported more WORLD MONUMENTS FUND BOARD OF TRUSTEES than 25 projects in Venice, making the city one of the largest beneficiaries of its time and resources. These efforts, HONORARY CHAIRMAN along with the invaluable research undertaken by a dedicated team of civil engineers, hydrologists, and ecologists, John Julius. Viscount Norwich and the innovative ideas it has yielded, stand as a moving testament that, in fact, Venice just might be saved. OFFICERS Marilyn C. Perry, Chairman Even awash, Venice reigns supreme as one of the most beautiful cities of the Western world. It was only fitting The Honorable Ronald S. Lauder, Vice Chairman then that the city served as a backdrop to an international meeting held in celebration of the thirtieth anniversary H. Peter Stern, Vice Chairman Robert W. Wilson, of the UNESCO Convention on Cultural and Natural Heritage held this past November. The conference, which Vice Chairman and Treasurer brought together representatives of the public and private sector, highlighted both the progress made and extraor Robert J. Geniesse, Secretary & General Counsel dinary challenges that face the field of historic preservation. PRESIDENT Bonnie Burnham Angela M.H. Schuster TRUSTEES Paul R. Beirne EDITOR John A. Bult Peter W. Davidson Mica Ertegun Patricia Falk Contri hi i tors Louise Grunwald Ashton Hawkins A. ELENA CHAROLA, a lecturer in architectural con JOHN A. LOOMIS Visiting Associate Professor at Prince Amyn Aga Khan Peter Kimmelman servation at the University of Pennsylvania, is a scien Stanford University, is an architect and author of Nina Joukowsky Kóprülü tific advisor at International Centre for the Study of Revolution of Forms: Cuba's Forgotten Art Schools. Jonathan S. Linen the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property Lois de Ménil Rome, Italy, and a consultant to WMF. Samuel C. Miller Nancy B. Negley KEITH DOWMAN, a noted writer on Hinduism and PATWANT SINGH, founder of Design, India's first Bernard Selz Tibetan Buddhism, is the author of Masters of magazine devoted to architecture and aesthetics, Peter M.F. Sichel Enchantment: The Lives and Legends of the is a well-known art critic, media commentator, Andrew W. Solomon Mahasiddhas and Power Places of Kathmandu with and social activist. Among his recent books are Gayfryd Steinberg world-renowned photographer KEVIN BUBRISKI. Of Dreams and Demons: A Memoir of Modern India Nicholas Thaw author of Portrait of Nepal. and The Golden Temple. Bertrand du Vignaud WMF.ORÜ WORLD EARTHQUAKE ROCKS SICILY, CAUSING AN ESTIMATED $500 MILLION IN DAMAGE n September 6, 2002, an earthquake perfectly harmonious architectural and deco to end with dazzling mosaics, rivaling those measuring 5.6 on the Richter Scale rative masterpiece. The plan of the chapel is in adorning St. Mark's in Venice. The roof is surely struck Sicily—the strongest to rock the essence that of a Western basilica, with a cen the most unexpected covering to any Christian Oisland in 20 years—damaging historic tral nave and two side aisles separated from it church on Earth—a stalactite ceiling of wood buildings in Palermo, including the Baroque by twin rows of antique granite columns, their in the classical Islamic style, intricately deco church of St. Ann and the Palazzo dei Corinthian capitals opulently gilded. The upper rated with the earliest datable group of figura Normanni, a ninth-century Saracen fortress, walls, on the other hand, are covered from end tive Islamic paintings in existence anywhere. restored and embellished A neighboring room contains a suite of mosaics in the eleventh and dating to the reign of Roger's son William. twelfth centuries. Once The extent of the damage caused by the a palace for the Norman earthquake and its more than 250 aftershocks rulers of the island, the is not yet fully known.