WMF Portugal

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The misconception that monuments will always be with us, and require no maintenance since they have endured for centuries, has had, and continues to have, tragic and irreversible consequences.

The great Sphinx of Egypt may soon be, quite literally, gone with the wind; the ancient city of Angkor could be swallowed up by the jungle. More recently, we have seen that the physical destruction by humans of cultural icons can be a potent political weapon.

Since its founding in 1965, the New York-based World Monuments Fund (WMF), a private non-profit organisation has played a pivotal role in the preservation of the worldÕs cultural heritage.

Since its founding in 1994, WMF-Portugal has the aim of rescuing and restoring monuments and historic buildings on Portuguese territory, permitting the conservation of our national heritage.

Whether it is slow damage provoked by inevitable erosion, or destruction by earthquake, by excavation, or by war, each day, in every corner of the world, works of great beauty and importance are lost for ever.

World Monuments Fund Portugal 2002 (C) Ð All rights reserved.
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