Sydney’s Brutalist icon, the Sirius building, is one of the 25 buildings that have been included on the World Monuments Watch for 2018.
Every two years, the World Monuments List is released by the World Monuments Fund (WMF) in recognition of cultural and heritage sites they consider to be facing “daunting threats” – whether that be from urbanisation, human conflict, climate change, natural disaster, or a lack of conservation opportunities. The 2018 list includes 25 sites from around the world that date from pre-history to the last century, compiled by a list of international heritage experts working in the fields of archaeology, architecture, art history and preservation.
Since the program launched in 1996, more than 800 sites across 135 countries and territories – a number that includes the 2018 list – have been identified as being endangered. The aim of the watch is to bring international attention to such sites, in the hopes of leveraging adequate resources to preserve them.
This year, the Sirius building has gained a significant deal of attention after a bid to have it listed on the NSW heritage register was rejected by then heritage minister, Mark Speakerman. In a landmark legal battle that culminated in late July, the NSW Land & Environment court overruled Speakerman’s decision, and ordered the new heritage minister, Gabrielle Upton, to re-think the listing within 14 days. So far, there has been no word on the minister’s verdict.
Accompanying the Sirius building on the 2018 World Monuments watch are buildings in Aleppo that have been damaged as a result of humanitarian devastation; buildings in the Gulf and Mexico affected by the recent string of hurricanes and earthquakes; sites in the United Kingdom that are under threat from sea-level rise; and cultural landscapes in places such as rural Spain that are facing increasing challenges as a result of growing tourism and development.
“By building an international coalition, the World Monuments Watch protects both the sites themselves and the shared history they embody,” says Joshua David, president and CEO of WMF.
“We may be best known for the excellence of our conservation practices, but the human impacts of our work ultimately mean the most. Sites like the 25 on the 2018 Watch are where we come together as citizens of the world and renew our commitments to justice, culture, peace, and understanding.”
Full list of buildings included on the 2018 World Monuments Watch below:
- Disaster Sites of the Caribbean, the Gulf, Mexico
- Government House, St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda
- Sirius Building, Millers Point, Sydney, Australia
- Ramal Talca-Constitucion, Talca Province, Chile
- Grand Theater, Prince Kung’s Mansion, Beijing, China
- Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue, Alexandria, Egypt
- Takiyyat of al-Gilshani, Cairo, Egypt
- Potager du Roi, Versailles, France
- Post-Independence Architecture of Delhi, India
- Al-Hadba’ Minaret, Mosul, Iraq
- Lifta, Jerusalem, Israel
- Amatrice, Italy
- Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium, Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan
- Jewish Quarter of Essaouira, Morocco
- Sukur Cultural Landscape, Madagali Local Government Area, Nigeria
- Historic Karachi, Pakistan
- Cerro de Oro, Canete Valley, Peru
- Tebaida Leonesa, El Bierzo, Leon, Spain
- Souk of Aleppo, Aleppo, Syria
- Chao Phraya River, Bangkok, Thailand
- Blackpool Piers, Blackpool, United Kingdom
- Buffalo Central Terminal, Buffalo, New York, United States
- Alabama Civil Rights Sites, Alabama, United States
- Old City of Ta’izz, Ta’izz, Yemen
- Matobo Hills Cultural Landscape, Matobo, Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe
