U.S. Supports International Cultural Preservation


U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
For Immediate
Release
September 11, 2008
Media Note
2008/709


U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation Announces Awards for
2008 Support for Cultural Preservation in 59 Countries.


The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is pleased to announce
the results of the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation 2008
competition. This year, the Fund will support 68 projects in 59
countries, ranging from the restoration of historic buildings to the
documentation of traditional forms of music.


Established by Congress in 2001, the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural
Preservation provides direct grant support for the preservation of
cultural sites, cultural objects and collections, and forms of
traditional cultural expression in developing countries in all regions
of the world. The Fund offers U.S. Embassies an opportunity to show a
side of the United States that is non-commercial, non-political, and
non-military. By taking a leading role in efforts to preserve and
protect cultural heritage, the United States shows its respect for other
cultures. Since its inception, the Fund has supported more than 500
cultural preservation projects in more than 100 countries.


Projects supported in 2008 include:
Restoration of three historic chhortens, distinctive Buddhist
monuments that guard natural thresholds or commemorate significant
events, in the Upper Mustang region of Nepal;
Preservation of the archaeological remains of the hamam in Aghmat,
a unique 11th-century pre-Almoravid hamam in southern Morocco;
Conservation of an important side altar in the 16th-century
cathedral of Santo Domingo, a World Heritage city and capital of
the Dominican Republic;
Documentation of the Dolan Muqam, one of four music and dance
traditions in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regions of China;
Conservation and display of 40 rarely exhibited icons in the
Ukraine dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries; and
Restoration of the Kizimkazi Mosque on the island of Zanzibar,
Tanzania, one of the oldest Islamic buildings on the east African
coast.


The Cultural Heritage Center supports the foreign affairs functions of
the Department that relate to the preservation of cultural heritage. In
addition to the Ambassadors Fund, the Center administers U.S.
responsibilities relating to the 1970 UNESCO convention. to reduce
pillage and illicit trafficking in cultural property. Information on the
Fund is available online at
https://exchanges.cms3.getusinfo.com/news/2008/091108html//afcp/index.html
.