World Monuments Fund (WMF) is an independent organization dedicated to safeguarding treasured places around the world that enrich lives and foster mutual understanding across cultures and communities. On February 10, WMF announced a $7 million commitment to support 21 heritage preservation projects launching in 2026. These investments advance work at sites included on the 2025 World Monuments Watch, WMF's nomination-based advocacy program, while also supporting new phases of conservation, planning, and training at additional heritage sites across five continents. The selected sites reflect a wide chronological and geographic range, from ancient cultural landscapes to modern architectural landmarks. The projects highlight the diversity of global heritage, spanning Mughal gardens and Ottoman religious complexes to modernist cinemas, industrial mining landscapes, Indigenous cultural routes, and sacred shrines, and point to the long-term cultural knowledge embedded in its preservation.
WMF's 2026 funding supports locally led preservation initiatives addressing urgent challenges, including climate change, natural disasters, unsustainable tourism, structural deterioration, and the loss of Indigenous knowledge. The projects prioritize community-centered solutions, technical innovation, and long-term academic and institutional partnerships. They are organized into three categories: physical conservation and intervention; heritage management and community engagement; and training-focused initiatives. Physical conservation projects involve on-the-ground restoration in collaboration with regional experts. Heritage management and community engagement initiatives focus on conservation planning, cultural mapping, interpretation, and strengthening local capacity for long-term stewardship. Training-focused projects invest in professional development through hands-on learning, mentorship, and applied conservation experience, expanding access to preservation careers.
"Around the world, communities are confronting profound challenges, from climate-related disasters and environmental change to the long aftermath of conflict and crisis. These new projects reflect the next phase of our work, translating visibility into sustained investment and collaboration. By working alongside local partners, we are advancing preservation efforts that support recovery, adaptation, and long-term stewardship of places that matter deeply to the people connected to them." — Bénédicte de Montlaur, President and CEO of World Monuments Fund
Related Article
Rooms as Heritage: How Interior Typologies Carry Cultural MemoryBelow is an overview of the 21 selected projects to be funded in 2026, organized by category.
Physical Conservation and Intervention Projects
Safdar Jang's Tomb, New Delhi, India
Chapel of the Sorbonne, Paris, France
Terracotta Sculptures of Alcobaça Monastery, Portugal
Museum of Antigua and Barbuda, Antigua and Barbuda
Takiyyat al-Gulshani, Egypt
Noto Peninsula Heritage Sites, Japan
National Palace of Sintra, Portugal
Church of Saint-Eustache, Paris, France
Almada Negreiros Murals, Maritime Station of Alcântara, Lisbon, Portugal
Jewish Heritage of Debdou, Morocco
Historic City of Antakya, Türkiye
Heritage Management and Community Engagement Projects
Monasteries of the Drino Valley, Albania
Qhapaq Ñan, Andean Road System (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru)
Cinema Studio Namibe, Angola
Sand Island, Bears Ears National Monument, United States
Serifos Historic Mining Landscape, Greece
Historic Water Systems of Bhuj, India
Belfast Assembly Rooms, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Rapa Nui National Park, Chile
Training-focused Projects
Bridge to Crafts Careers (B2CC), New Orleans Preservation Training Cohort, United States
Bodwease Shrine, Asante Traditional Buildings, Ghana
In addition to its international initiatives, WMF has launched a national call for nominations for Irreplaceable America, a new program marking the 250th anniversary of the United States' independence. Through this initiative, WMF will partner with 10 heritage sites across the country on preservation projects that reflect the people, events, and ideas that have "shaped the nation." Nominations are open to a wide range of historic places significant to their communities, with full guidelines available at wmf.org. In other heritage conservation news, WMF recently announced that the Australia-based architecture firm Architectus is the recipient of the 2026 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize for its conservation of the United Nations' Historic Africa Hall in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Elsewhere, the City of London Corporation has formally approved the delivery plan for the renewal of the Barbican Centre, and MVRDV has received construction approval for the first phase of renovations at Plum Village Buddhist Monastery in France.
