The World Monuments Fund (WMF) has announced that it will commit $7 million in 2026 to support 21 new preservation projects.
Founded in 1965 and originally known as the International Fund for Monuments, the New York–based WMF has for the last 60 years worked to preserve more than 700 heritage sites across the globe.
The organization’s 2026 funding will go to projects at places included on the organization’s 2025 World Monuments Watch List—a biannual, nomination-based list of 25 sites worldwide that are being affected by climate change, natural disaster, unsustainable tourism, and conflict—as well as to programs at additional locations not on the list.
This year’s projects include physical interventions as diverse as preserving mural paintings at the Church of Saint-Eustache in Paris, restoring the gardens at Safdar Jang’s Tomb in New Delhi, and repairing earthquake-damaged buildings on Japan’s Noto Peninsula.
The money will also support management, training, and community engagement programs, including one at Bear’s Ears National Monument in Utah that balances visitor access to its famed petroglyphs with Indigenous stewardship. Another will train local workers to take care of the Saint Louis Cemetery No. 2 in New Orleans.
The WMF also announced a new initiative, Irreplaceable America, timed to the 250th anniversary of the United States. Through this program, the organization will partner with 10 heritage sites across the US on preservation projects. Locations will be selected through a public call for nominations; selected sites will be announced on July 2.
The WMF’s efforts are supported in part by donations from the AXA Foundation for Human Progress, Accor, the Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust, the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation, and the Freeman Foundation, among other entities.
