Sites selected this year for funding include: Vila de Paranapiacaba, Santo André, Brazil; Banteay Chhmar, Thmar Puok, Cambodia; Shaxi Market Area, Shaxi Zen, China; Terezin Fortress, Terezin, Czech Republic; Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Thebes, Egypt; San Juan de Ulua Fort, Veracruz, Mexico; San Lorenzo Castle and San Geronimo Fort, Panama; Church of our Savior and Historic Center, Rostov Veliky, Russia; and San Esteban del Rey Mission, Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico, United States. All of these sites were listed on the 2002 World Monuments Watch List of Most Endangered Sites. The list is based on nominations by concerned citizens and groups around the world who helped identify those places that are in the most critical need of assistance.

American Express is a founding sponsor of WMF's World Monuments Watch program, which was founded in 1995 to draw attention to and ensure the preservation of imperiled historic, artistic, and architectural sites worldwide. American Express's ten-year, $10 million commitment to this program has enabled WMF to leverage millions of dollars of additional funding from local and national governments, global corporations, foundations, and individuals, and has encouraged new preservation activism worldwide.

Bonnie Burnham, WMF president, said, “We began the World Monuments Watch in response to the urgent need to preserve our built heritage – a heritage that represents all human history and cultures. The funding from American Express, for new sites and continued support for others, is instrumental to the program's success. These generous grants help ensure that these valuable cultural heritage monuments are saved for future generations.”

“These cultural landmarks we are helping to preserve reflect cultures and communities that date back as far as the 16th Century B.C.,” said Ken Chenault, chairman and CEO of American Express Company. “They are a great source of local pride and, by attracting visitors from throughout the world, they promote a global understanding of our common history and heritage.”

World Monuments Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites
Every other year, the World Monuments Fund invites governments and non-governmental organizations around the world to nominate endangered sites for inclusion on the World Monuments Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites. WMF then convenes an independent panel of experts who are leaders in the fields of archaeology, architecture, art history, and historic preservation to review the hundreds of nominations and select for inclusion on the list the most compelling sites with the greatest threats.

Ranging from such widely known landmarks as the Great Wall of China to the lesser-known National Art Schools in Cuba, to the 1,500-year-old stupas and temples of the Sri-Ksetra Temples in Myanmar, the World Monuments Watch list reaches across the globe and touches upon virtually every historical era. Each year, American Express selects individual sites from the current list to receive grants.

Since its inception in 1995, the World Monuments Fund's Watch program has awarded 315 grants totaling nearly $26.3 million to aid 157 sites in 64 countries. An estimated $58.4 million more has been leveraged directly to the sites from governments, businesses, individuals, and institutions for an estimated total of $84.7 million, including the grants being announced today.

World Monuments Fund
Since 1965, the private, nonprofit World Monuments Fund, an international organization with headquarters in New York City, has been preserving and safeguarding the historic, artistic, and architectural heritage of humankind. Dedicated to preventing the loss or destruction of important cultural treasures throughout the world, WMF has affiliates in France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Through a program of advocacy, fieldwork, technical assistance, grant making, and educational programs, it brings public and private support together to safeguard monuments and works of art whose loss or destruction would impoverish humankind.

2003 World Monuments Fund Grant Recipients
Brazil, Santo André, Brazil, Vila de Paranapiacaba (1867-1868)
$100,000 for the restoration of the old Castillo
Once a thriving railroad village built by the British to link Brazil's interior coffee-producing regions with the coastal ports, the town was later abandoned and left to decay. Today, Brazil's government is trying to preserve Vila de Paranapiacaba and its surrounding landscape to raise awareness of its natural, cultural, and industrial heritage, and to promote an economic revival of the region. This is the second American Express grant to this site.

Cambodia, Thmar Puok, Banteay Chhmar (1100-1199)
$30,000 for conservation planning
This temple complex, deep in the Cambodian jungle near the Thai border, is renowned for its beautifully rendered bas-reliefs. Built over nine square kilometers and surrounded by a moat, the site echoes the architectural layout of the better-known Khmer temple complexes of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. It was caught in the chaos of war and revolution during the 1970s and suffered from neglect and looting.

China, Shaxi Zhen, Shaxi Market Area (1300-1800)
$75,000 for restoration of the remaining gate and teahouse, which will be converted to the Historic Tea and Horse Caravan Trail Inn
A one-time way station on the trail that linked Tibet with Southeast Asia, the Shaxi Market is the only surviving example of such an entrepot, complete with an intact theater, guesthouses, a temple precinct, and protective gates. After WWII, trade between Tibet and Yunnan ceased and the market fell into decline. A preservation plan has been developed and implemented and the first of twelve restoration projects-restoring the theatre stage and museum-has begun.

Czech Republic, Terezin, Terezin Fortress (1780-1790)
$100,000 to complete emergency conservation
An enormous Baroque fortress built by Hapsburg Emperor Josef II, Terezin comprises a town enclosed by a bastion-type fortification. Named in honor of Empress Maria Teresa, Terezin has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the most unusual planned ghettos and deportation centers for Jews sent on to concentration camps in World War II. The reasons for preserving Terezin are twofold: as a unique example of Baroque architecture and as a memorial to victims of the Holocaust. The devastating floods of 2000 increased the threats and caused additional damage to the site.

Egypt, Luxor, Thebes, Valley of the Kings (sixteenth-eleventh century B.C.)
$70,000 for management plan
Nearly all of Egypt's New Kingdom pharaohs-including Tutankhamen, Seti I, and Rameses II-are buried in the Valley of the Kings. Most of the sixty-two uncovered tombs are elaborately decorated with painted wall friezes. Poorly managed tourism is causing this crucial site to deteriorate with alarming speed. This is the fourth American Express grant to the Valley of the Kings.

Mexico, Veracruz, San Juan de Ulua Fort (1535-1786)
$100,000 for continued restoration to match funds raised by the State government of Veracruz
In its day, this was one of the most secure and technologically advanced forts in the New World. It was the first port of the Americas, serving as the entry point for Christian missionaries and a link in the West Indies coastal defense system. Most of the structure suffers from severe deterioration, largely a result of its sandy site and highly polluted harbor. This is the second American Express grant to this site.

Panama, San Lorenzo Castle and San Geronimo Fort (1596-1779)
$100,000 for a planning workshop and structural repair of San Geronimo
These two forts are among the many fortifications that once protected Panama's Caribbean coast. San Lorenzo, established by the Spanish in 1595 as a depot for gold shipments, includes the castle fortress, a military lunette, and high battery, all built over a nearly 200-year period. San Geronimo was built in the seventeenth century as an Italian-style polygonal fortress; in the mid-eighteenth century a long, low battery was added. The site is threatened by intruding vegetation, water erosion, and exposure to the elements. This is the third American Express grant to San Lorenzo Castle and San Geronimo Fort.

Russia, Rostov Veliky, Church of our Savior & Historic Center (862-1690)
$89,000 for engineering, foundation work, and restoration
One of Russia's oldest cities, Rostov Veliky played a critical role in Russian history: It was the site of siege and revolt against the Mongols in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the birthplace of influential leaders of the early Russian State. Within the surviving earthen ramparts and town walls, the medieval city offers a spectacular array of vernacular wooden houses and domed ecclesiastical structures, including the Church of our Savior-on-the-Marketplace. A rising water-table is undermining many of the structures and moisture has eaten away painted surfaces, ornamentation, and entire foundations.

United States, New Mexico, San Esteban del Rey Mission, Acoma Pueblo (1629-1643)
$100,000 for restoring the roof of the church
Commissioned by King Charles II of Spain, the mission church of San Esteban del Rey is known as the "Sky City" for its 1,000-foot stretch of triple-terraced houses built atop a 350-foot-high mesa. Acoma is the oldest continuously inhabited community in the United States. Built of stone and adobe, the church walls, more than two meters thick, rise some ten meters. To build the roof, the Acoma people transported long timber beams, each weighing more than a ton, from sacred Mt. Taylor, 50 kilometers away, maneuvering them up the cliff without letting them once touch the ground, which would have been considered a sacrilege. San Esteban is now endangered by roof deterioration and wall erosion.

American Express: Founding Sponsor of the World Monuments Watch
As founding sponsor of the World Monuments Watch, American Express has contributed nearly $8 million since 1996 to fund conservation projects. To date, it has awarded grants to 100 sites in 52 countries; this year's grants totaled $764,000. Historic preservation has long been a priority of the company, which, through its philanthropic program, supports initiatives to strengthen local communities and to nurture and develop tourism's greatest assets: well-trained people, historic sites and parks, and cultural diversity.

American Express Company is a diversified worldwide travel, financial and network services company founded in 1850. It is a world leader in charge and credit cards, Travelers Cheques, travel, financial planning, business services, insurance and international banking.