Hasta La Ideas

Speaking of blogs, here’s another. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam needed to take down and restore one of the artist’s most famous paintings, “The Bedroom,” but didn’t want it to leave the public eye. They decided to launch this blog, written by their head of conservation, an assistant curator, and the museum’s director, which will post updates showing what needed repair, how they’re fixing it, and any other thoughts they have along the way (like when they find a treasure map hidden between the paint and canvass). It’s still early so the blog itself only has three available posts aren’t incredibly detailed (a small entry about some of the damage is the only one of real interest), but they’ve also prepared some video in “The Examination” section, as well as a bit of historical info on the painting itself, all of which should hold you until things really start cooking (everyone knows how fast paced art restoration is, right?).

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The World Monuments Fund has announced its 2010 World Monuments Watch, a biennial list of at-risk cultural heritage sites. The new list consists of 93 sites from 47 countries. Along with the famous and ancient—Machu Picchu (pictured), Pakistani petroglyphs, Bhutan’s fragile Phajoding monastery—the list highlights the plight of modern architecture. Fifteen sites, including Connecticut’s Merritt Parkway, date from the 20th century. Modern buildings on the 2010 Watch include Frank Lloyd Wright‘s Taliesin and Taliesin West, in the United States, and the now-abandoned Sanatorium Joseph Lemaire, in Belgium. Also making the list is Las Pozas, the “Surrealist Xanadu” created by eccentric British artist Charles James in Xilitia, Mexico. Constructed in the mid-20th century, the series of canals, pools, and architectural follies is now crumbling and being engulfed by the surrounding jungle, according to the WMF.

“With a greater number of urban centers and cultural landscapes, this year’s Watch reflects a growing understanding that heritage cannot be preserved in isolation, but rather must be addressed as part of a broad physical and social context,” explained Erica Avrami, WMF’s Research and Education Director, in a statement accompanying the 2010 list. “Not all sites on the Watch are in imminent danger. Many face challenges on the horizon, providing the opportunity to engage in dialogue and decision-making now, so as to avoid problems in the future.”

Read on for the full WMF 2010 World Monuments Watch list.

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