Column: World Monuments Fund ‘Watch List’ hits home in U.S. at two Southwest colonial churches

A graceful baroque church built in the late 18th century by members of Arizona’s Tohono O’odham Nation, and a stark mission constructed at the Acoma pueblo in New Mexico a century earlier are among 50 world heritage sites on the World Monuments Fund “Watch List” for 2016. The list, which is published annually, serves to draw attention to cultural sites at risk of being damaged by development or lack of care, as well as social, political and natural forces.

Also on the list are four dozen other sites in 36 countries marking cultural development from prehistory to the present. This includes pre-Columbian glyphs in the desert of Chile, an ancient temple in Jordan, an 18th century British estate, early 20th century architecture in Tokyo and a radical Modernist stadium in Cambodia.

In addition, two significant sites in Mexico also made the list: Mexico City’s sprawling Chapultepec Park, which still contains vestiges of a pre-Columbian water management system, and the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, a former Jesuit seminary that served as a cradle of the country’s muralist movement in the early 20th century.

The U.S. sites tell an interesting story about the period of Spanish colonialism in the American Southwest. Both churches were built by indigenous labor for Spanish colonizers and together capture two distinct periods of the Spanish colonial era’s architecture.

The San Esteban del Rey Mission, built in the pueblo style atop a dramatic 350-foot mesa in the Acoma pueblo near Albuquerque, is in need of a comprehensive restoration program that can address the damaged roof, among other structural issues. Likewise, the ornate Mission San Xavier del Bac, which is located in Tohono O’odham territory near Tucson, has suffered damage from previous restoration campaigns (though these are being addressed by area artisans).

Their placement on the list draws attention to the needs of these important structures — as well as a period in U.S. history that is often overlooked.

7 Noteworthy World Heritage Sites on WMF’s Watch List:

See more images of threatened world heritage sites on the WMF’s special website devoted to the 2016 Watch List.

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