2025 World Monuments Watch list with gaza and the moon
World Monuments Fund (WMF) announces the 25 sites on the 2025 World Monuments Watch. The international, non-profit organization first launched the list in 1996. It is a biennial, nomination-based program to build public awareness on how important it is to preserve historic sites and heritage. Among the 25 sites on the 2025 World Monuments Watch list, the Moon makes it for the first time. WMF says this is a way to recognize and preserve humanity’s first steps beyond earth, now that researchers and entities keep testing its properties. This year’s Watch includes a wide variety of cultural heritage sites facing major challenges.
The organization enlists Gaza’s Historic Urban Fabric in Palestine; Ukraine’s Teacher’s House in Kyiv; the Historic Lighthouses of Maine in the US; Africa’s Swahili Coast; the Old City of Antakya, Turkey; and the Chapel of the Sorbonne in France, to name a few. In total, the 25 sites represent 29 countries across five continents and the Moon. These historic sites and landscapes are also located in Albania, China, India, Japan, Mongolia, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Portugal, Spain, and Tanzania. The list is a result of over 200 nominations reviewed and selected by an independent panel of international heritage experts.
Cinema Studio Namibe | photo by Walter Fernandes; all images courtesy of World Monuments Fund unless stated
Regional trends from climate change to conflict
As the heritage experts review the nominations for the 2025 World Monuments Watch, they find specific regional trends. Climate change is a critical issue for sites and communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, while it’s the rapid urbanization in Asia and the Pacific. Nominations from Europe and North America have issues with insufficient funding and resources, and those from Latin America and the Caribbean report tourism as a main concern.
Conflict and natural disaster are the pressing challenges around the Middle East and North Africa regions. After the announcement of the 2025 World Monuments Watch list, the non-profit organization’s team is set to evaluate the needs of the nominees and co-design plans for advocacy, preservation, and fundraising. After the funds are raised, the World Monuments Fund expects to collaborate with local partners in these sites to develop a preservation project to help maintain these historic places. So far, WMF has secured two million USD in funding.
ruins of Qasr al-Basha after a December 2023 airstrike, January 2024 | photo courtesy of Getty/Anadolu
Complete list of the 2025 World Monuments Watch
The complete 2025 World Monuments Watch list includes the Monasteries of the Drino Valley in Albania; the Cinema Studio Namibe in Angola; the Qhapaq Ñan, Andean Road System around Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; the Buddhist Grottoes of Maijishan and Yungang in China; the Swahili Coast Heritage Sites in Comoros, Kenya, Mozambique, and Tanzania; the Chapel of the Sorbonne in France; and the Serifos Historic Mining Landscape in Greece. The remaining 2025 World Monuments Watch lists the Bhuj Historic Water Systems and the Musi River Historic Buildings in India; and the Noto Peninsula Heritage Sites in Japan.
The list also includes the Erdene Zuu Buddhist Monastery in Mongolia; the Jewish Heritage of Debdou in Morocco; the Chief Ogiamien’s House in Nigeria; the Gaza Historic Urban Fabric in Palestine; the Waru Waru Agricultural Fields in Peru; and the Terracotta Sculptures of Alcobaça Monastery in Portugal; the Ruins of Old Belchite in Spain; the Water Reservoirs of the Tunis Medina in Tunisia; the City of Antakya in Turkey; the Kyiv Teacher’s House in Ukraine; the Belfast Assembly Rooms in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom; the Great Trading Path and the Historic Lighthouses of Maine in the United States; the Barotse Floodplain Cultural Landscape in Zambia; and the Moon.
the Ramkund stepwell near Hamirsar Lake has stored water for Bhuj inhabitants for centuries
aerial landscape of a Waru Waru agricultural field
the Three Buddha temples at Erdene Zuu house a collection of Buddhist artifacts
Buzz Aldrin’s first steps on the Moon

Snow-covered ruins of Old Belchite
rubble from the Antakya earthquake
Teacher’s House in central Kyiv, prior to sustaining damage in the war
Storm surf at Portland Breakwater Light (“Bug Light”), South Portland | photo by Dominic Trapani

mining loading bridge at Mega Livadi, Serifos | photo by Orestis Karamanlis














project info:
name: 2025 World Monuments Watch
organization: World Monuments Fund (WMF) | @worldmonumentsfund