Landmarks Foundation
Encyclopedia
Landmarks Foundation, founded in 1997 and based in New York City
, is a non-profit organization
created to conserve
sacred
sites and landscape
s around the world. The foundation motto
is "protecting sacred sites globally."
The following defines what the Landmarks Foundation was founded to ward and why:
The Landmarks Foundation directs funding and technical expertise to local groups that cannot protect their sacred cultural heritage without assistance. Selection of specific projects is based on cultural significance and degree of jeopardy. In describing their methods, a spokesperson for Landmarks Foundation remarked that "Piecemeal restoration is no substitute for a master plan...".
Sites to which the Landmark Foundation has lent it efforts towards protecting include the following:
The Landmark Foundation relies upon donations for its funding. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Robert de Rothschild, Princess Elizabeth
, and Mesrob II are among its members and supporters. The Landmark Foundation's advisory board is a multi-national assembly of conservation experts from around the world.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, is a non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
created to conserve
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
sacred
Sacred
Holiness, or sanctity, is in general the state of being holy or sacred...
sites and landscape
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
s around the world. The foundation motto
Motto
A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...
is "protecting sacred sites globally."
Whether locations are in current use today or relics left by vanished ancestors, these sacred places are tangible and sometimes intangible focal points for the beliefs, ritualRitualA ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
s and religionReligionReligion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
s that define human societies. These structures and integral natural settings are threatened by economic expansion, desecrationDesecrationDesecration is the act of depriving something of its sacred character, or the disrespectful or contemptuous treatment of that which is held to be sacred or holy by a group or individual.-Detail:...
, pollutionPollutionPollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
and neglect as well as by natural disasters and erosionErosionErosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
. Just like the natural world, mankind's spiritual heritageTraditionA tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
is in need of dedicated protection.
The Landmarks Foundation directs funding and technical expertise to local groups that cannot protect their sacred cultural heritage without assistance. Selection of specific projects is based on cultural significance and degree of jeopardy. In describing their methods, a spokesperson for Landmarks Foundation remarked that "Piecemeal restoration is no substitute for a master plan...".
Sites to which the Landmark Foundation has lent it efforts towards protecting include the following:
- the stone spheres of Costa RicaStone spheres of Costa RicaThe stone spheres of Costa Rica are an assortment of over three hundred petrospheres in Costa Rica, located on the Diquis Delta and on Isla del Caño. Known locally as Las Bolas, they are also called The Diquis Spheres...
- the MoaiMoaiMoai , or mo‘ai, are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Chilean Polynesian island of Easter Island between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the...
of Easter IslandEaster IslandEaster Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people... - the Kaleshwar Temple ComplexKaleshwar Temple, NerurThe Kaleshwar Temple in Nerur, India is devoted to the God Shri Kaleshwar, an Avatar of the God Shiva.There is an ancient temple of Shri Kaleshwar in the Village Nerur, Dist. Sindhudurg, Maharashtra. Shri Kaleshwar is the Village Deity of all Nerurkars.-External...
in IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world... - the Misión Santa Catarina Virgen y MártirMisión Santa Catarina Virgen y MártirMission Santa Catarina was founded on November 12, 1797 in the present-day Valle of El Álamo in the municipio of Ensenada, Baja California, México, by the Dominican missionary José Loriente....
and Huichol sacred sites in MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of... - the ruined city of AniAniAni is a ruined and uninhabited medieval Armenian city-site situated in the Turkish province of Kars, near the border with Armenia. It was once the capital of a medieval Armenian kingdom that covered much of present day Armenia and eastern Turkey...
and the Cathedral of the Holy CrossAkdamar IslandAkdamar Island also known as Aght'amar or Akhtamar, is the second by size of four islands in Lake Van in the south of Eastern Anatolia Region, Turkey, about 0.7 km2 in size, situated about 3 km from the shoreline. At the western end of the island a hard, grey, limestone cliff rises 80 m...
on Lake VanLake VanLake Van is the largest lake in Turkey, located in the far east of the country in Van district. It is a saline and soda lake, receiving water from numerous small streams that descend from the surrounding mountains. Lake Van is one of the world's largest endorheic lakes . The original outlet from...
in TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe... - the Sajama LinesSajama LinesThe Sajama Lines of western Bolivia are a network of thousands of nearly perfectly straight paths etched into the ground continuously for more than 3,000 years by the indigenous people living near Nevado Sajama...
of BoliviaBoliviaBolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
The Landmark Foundation relies upon donations for its funding. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Robert de Rothschild, Princess Elizabeth
Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia
-Arms:HRH Princess Jelisaveta was granted heraldic arms in June 2008. Her motto translates into English as Service Is Love In Action.-Ancestry:-See also:*Politics of Serbia*Serbian presidential elections, 2004*Prince Paul of Yugoslavia*-References:...
, and Mesrob II are among its members and supporters. The Landmark Foundation's advisory board is a multi-national assembly of conservation experts from around the world.