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Global Heritage Fund Commends Preservation Partners for Role in Achieving UNESCO Approval of Sacred Wutai Mountain in China

July 2009

 

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GLOBAL HERITAGE FUND COMMENDS PRESERVATION PARTNERS FOR ROLE IN ACHIEVING UNESCO APPROVAL OF SACRED WUTAI MOUNTAIN IN CHINA

Wutai Mountain’s Prized Foguang Temple is Current GHF Conservation Site

PALO ALTO, CA, July 16 – Global Heritage Fund is proud to be affiliated with a team of organizations that successfully worked to secure the designation of Wutai Mountain as a UNESCO world heritage site. The sacred Chinese mountain, located in Xinzhou City in the Shanxi Province, has been witness to centuries of Buddhist history and was added to the UNESCO list on June 26, 2009 by the World Heritage Committee in Seville, Spain.

Buddhist temples on the mountain were built between the 1st century AD and the early 20th century.  Mt. Wutai receives more than three million tourists annually, and the UN designation is expected to push that number higher.  As of 2008, China had listed 38 world heritage sites, including 27 cultural heritage sites, seven natural heritage sites and four cultural and natural heritage sites.

Among the 53 monasteries located in the sacred Buddhist Mountain, one of the most important sites is Foguang Temple; its main structure, Grand East Hall, is the highest surviving timber Building of the Tang Dynasty with life size clay sculptures.

One of the organizations instrumental in working toward receiving UNESCO approval for Wutai Mountain is the Shanxi Institute of Ancient Architecture Research and Conservation, a long-time GHF alliance.  Under the lead of National and Provincial governments, GHF joined with the Institute to carry out a multi-stage program to save the 1200 year old Foguang Temple.

“Throughout the years, GHF has witnessed the dedication and determination by the local partners, and the challenges they faced in protecting Foguang Temple and other key sites on Wutai Mountain,” said Jeff Morgan, executive director of GHF.  “Our organization is proud to participate and contribute to the process they have established, as we congratulate them on a superb conservation job for Foguang Temple.”

Until GHF’s initiative, Foguang Temple had not undergone major restoration or repair work since the 17th century. The architecture suffered extensive structural damage caused by landslide, water damage from a leaking roof, pests and foundation settlement, which threaten to cause permanent problems to Foguang Temple.

Initially, GHF supported the Foguang Temple Master Conservation Plan by Tsinghua University, as well as the conservation plan for the Grand East Hall.  In the field, GHF contributed to the restoration and repair work of all Foguang Monastery Complex buildings except for the Grand East Hall, and the environmental improvements of the main roadways, landscaping, drainage and flood prevention, and all necessary modernization updates to ensure a secure area.

Members of GHF’s team have also held lectures and training on conservation concepts and techniques representative of GHF’s Preservation by Design™ to the ground staff of Shanxi Institute of Ancient Architecture Research and Conservation.  In addition, GHF’s involvement has helped the Shanxi provincial authority to secure funding from the central government to support the restoration and scientific conservation of the Foguang Temple.

About Global Heritage Fund
Global Heritage Fund is an international conservancy dedicated to preserving endangered world heritage sites in developing countries to improve lives of local people. GHF enables successful, long-term preservation of the developing world’s most important archaeological sites and ancient townscapes in developing countries, creating new opportunities for economic growth. To achieve this, Global Heritage Fund deploys a well-proven Preservation by Design methodology: 1) comprehensive master conservation planning, 2) sustained preservation through local community involvement, 3) excellence in scientific conservation, and 4) partnerships and complementary funding. Global Heritage Fund is a registered non-profit international conservancy based in Palo Alto, California.  Web site: http://www.globalheritagefund.org.