WORLD MONUMENTS FUND THE FIRST THIRTY YEARS WORLD MONUMENTS FUND TIlE FIRST TIIIRTY YEARS CHRISTIE'S Thc printing of World ~Ionulllcnts Fund: Thc First Thirty Ycars is gcncruusly supportcd hy Christic's Acknowledgments The World Monuments Fund is This book is the product of a collaboration among numerous individuals. a private nonprofit organization founded David Sassoon researched and developed a retrospective catalogue of the World in 1965 by individuals concerned Monuments Fund's work in Europe. Bonnie Burnham subsequently expanded about the accelerating destruction of it into a comprehensive overview of WMF's 30-year history. Dr. Marilyn Perry important artistic treasures throughout added signi ficant information regarding the history of projects supported by the the world. In more than 30 years of Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Isabelle de Broglie in Paris, Donatella Asta and activity, the World Monuments Fund has Stephen Eddy in Venice, and Victoria Agnew in London-WMF's European orchestrated over 135 major projects staff members-helped to document and provide visual material for their respec­ in 32 countries. Today, with affiliate tive project texts. In the New York office, Rebecca Anderson edited the manu­ organizations established in Europe- script and oversaw all stages of production, with help from John Stubbs and in Britain, France, Italy, Portugal, and Felicia Mayro of the program staff, and Dr. Samuel Gruber, program consultant Spain-the World Monuments Fund for Jewish heritage. Martha Flach assisted in selecting photographs and com­ sponsors an ongoing program for the posing captions. WMF's development office, under Anthony Newman, super­ conservation of cultural heritage world­ vised the compilation of the retrospective list of donors. wide. The World Monuments Watch, Cynthia Nadelman copy edited the manuscript. Susan Skoorka of Skoorka a global program launched in 1995 on Graphic Design, New York, N.Y., designed the publication and the WMF the occasion of the 30th anniversary 30th-anniversary logo and supervised print production. of the World Monuments Fund, aims Many project entries in the current volume are adapted from previous WMF to identify imperiled cultural heritage publications. A comprehensive listing of these appears on pages 96-97. sites and direct financial and technical The World Monuments Fund gratefully acknowledges the generosity ofthe support for their preservation. Samuel H. Kress Foundation in funding the development ofthe texts on WMF's European projects. WMF is also grateful to Christie'sfor printing this publication and to the Kress Foundation and Christie'sfor sharing the printing costs. COVER: THE SCUOLA GRANDE 01 SAN GIOVANNI EVANGELlSTA IN VENICE World Monuments Fund WITH RESTORATION WORK IN PROGRESS 949 Park Avenue IN THE SALA MAGGIORE New York, N.Y. 10028 INSET: THE SAME VIEW AS IT U.S.A. APPEARS TODAY Telephone: (212) 517-9367 FRONTISPIECE: INTERIOR OF THE RESTORED SCUOLA GRANDE 01 SAN Fax: (212) 517-9494 ROCCO IN VENICE WITH VIEW TOWARDS THE ALTAR ISBN: 0-9627931-6-7 Copyright © 1996 World Monuments Fund All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain 4 Table of Contents Preface 7 Murals Conservation Program. Mexico City. Mexico 55 The Rt. Honorable The Viscount Norwich, Facade of the Primatial Church of St. Trophimc. 56 HOllorary Clwinllall, World MOil tilIIellIS FUlld alld Aries, France Chairll/all, World MOIiU/llelll.l· FUlid ill Brilaill Ponada de la Majestad. Collegiate Church of Santa Marfa la Mayor. Toro. Spain 59 .\ Toast from the Chairman 8 Chaleau de COlllmarque. Les Eyzies 60 Dr. Marilyn Perry. Chairll/all (Perigord). France Church of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity. What Is a World Monument? 9 Brooklyn. New York 63 Bonnie Burnham. Execlllil'e DireclOr Giandomenico Tiepolo Murals. Church of San Giovanni Battista. Meolo. Italy 64 History of the World ~Ionuments Fund 12 Dome of the Hotel des Invalides. Paris. France 67 Cima da Conegliano's BaplislI/ (~f Chrisl, Church The First Thirty )ears 22-85 of San Giovanni in Bragora, Venice. Italy 68 Catalogue of ~Iajor Projects 23 The 1990s Temple of Preah Khan. Historic City of Angkor. The 1960s Cambodia 71 Rock-Hcwn Coptic Churches. Lalibela. Ethiopia 24 Muctejar Cloister, Royal Monastery of Guadalupe. Archaeological Sites of Easter Island. Chile 26 Guadalupe. Spain 72 Scuola Grandc di San Giovanni Evangelista, Basilica of Ererouk, Armenia 75 Vcnice. Italy 28 Tempel Synagogue. Cracow. Poland 76 Tintorelto's paintings for the Scuola Grande di PotageI' du Roy. Versailles. France 79 San Rocco. Venice. Italy 30 Lednice and Valtice Castles and Environs. Southern Moravia. Czech Republic 80 The 1970s Tower of Belem, Lisbon. PO/'lUg'll 83 Church of San Pietro di Castello, Venice, Italy 32 The FulUre 84 Church of the Pictil (Santa Maria della Visitazione), Venice. Italy 35 World ~Ionuments Fund Field Activities 86 Scuola Canton. Venice. Italy 36 Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta on Torcello. ~Iajor Donors 1965-1995 91 Venice. Italy 39 Toledo Calhedral Museum. The Hadrian Award and Toledo. Spain 40 World ~Ionumcnts Fund Gold ~Icdal 94 Gokarna Temple Complex. Kathmandu Valley. Nepal 43 Bovolo Staircase. Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo. World ~lonul11ents Fund Publications 96 Venice. Italy 44 World i\lonuments Fund Board of Trustees The 19S0s and Intermltional Leadership 98 Conservation Laboratory. Scuo/a Vecchia del/a Misericordia. Venice. Italy 47 Convento de la Coria. Trujillo. Spain 48 World ~Ionuments Fund Directory 99 Doneraile Court. County Cork. Ireland 51 Ciladelle Henry. Milot. Haiti 52 Index 100 5 In Memoriam Dedicatcd to James A. Gray (1909-1994) Founder Lucius R. Eastman (J 913-1991) Trustee and Board Chairman Emmanuel dc Nlargcric (J 924-1991) President World Monuments Fund France Franklin D. ~[urphy (1916-1994) Chairman Samuel 11. Kress Foundation 6 Preface t has been my good fortune 10 have been have not yet followed Colonel Gray to Lalibela or associated over theyears with three great to Easter Island, I have every intention of doing so I conservation orgalllzatlons, two of them before long. Meanwhile, I have associated myself British, the other genuinely international; and all still more closely to WMF by becoming chairman three of them celebrate important anniversaries of its new British affiliate; and I have now seen in 1995. The two British bodies are the National work begin on the two most staggering examples Trust. which was founded just one hundred years in the country of, respectively, the Victorian Gothic ago. and the Venice in Peril Fund, which-though and neoclassical styles: the Albert Memorial in it seems almost unbelievable to those of us who London and St. George's Hall in Liverpool. were involved from the start-has already been In short, under the inspired direction of Marilyn going for a quarter of a century. The third organi­ Perry and Bonnie Burnham, WMF is going from zation is the World Monuments Fund, which­ strength to strength. It has already been responsi­ where its age is concerned-falls between the ble for the restoration, wholly or in part, of some other two. It is 30 years old this year-and I only 135 different monuments, and as I write these wish I could say the same. words its work is in progress on some twenty It was in Venice, and through Venice, that different sites. It remains-a fact which cannot I first became associated with the International be too insistently stressed-the only private charity Fund for Monuments. as we called it in those that exists anywhere for the preservation and con­ early days. The great Colonel Gray remained servation of all the great monuments of the world, for me a shadowy figure, whom I met only once wherever they may be; believing as it does that or twice; though already well over seventy, he those monuments belong in a very real sense always seemed to be hurtling between Ethiopia to the world. and are consequently the world's and Easter Island, Haiti and Kathmandu. My responsibility to maintain. Its task is immense­ really close friends then were John and Betty just how immense, the new program that we McAndrew-what an enchanting couple they have called World Monuments Watch wi II one were, and how I miss them-and Marilyn Perry, day reveal-and, clearly, will never be completed. then a free-lance art historian working in Venice There will always be more work to be done. more (though already occupying one of the most beauty to be preserved, more buildings to restore. enviable flats in the whole city). Little did any of But given the encouragement and support of those us know in those days the heights she was shortly who believe in it. many of the greatest creations to scale, first in the Kress Foundation and soon of the human spirit will continue, thanks to WMF, afterwards in the IFM, rising to be president of to stand firmly and confidently-for our children one and chairman of the other, and forging the and our children's children to wonder at, learn close links between the two that have made from, and enjoy. possible the astonishing growth of the World Monuments Fund-for we must now give it its modern title-over the past ten years. Since WMF did me the quite undeserved honor of appointing me honorary chairman, I have been following its fortunes with ever-increasing wonder and admiration. Its income, despite the continuing generosity of the Kress Foundation and others, remains relatively modest; but I know of no organization anywhere that uses that income more brilliantly or makes it go further. I have seen WMF at work not only in Italy but in France and Spain; in Mexico and the United States: in Haiti. John Julius NOl"\rich Cambodia, and the Czech Republic; and though I Honorary Chairman 7 A Toast from the Chairman 30th anniversary toast, if I may, to the A decade later, WMF is a leader in internat­ remarkable evolution of the World ional preservation.