Endangered Monuments

Endangered Monuments    2012/03/01 23:23
Endangered Monuments Rolf W. Hapke / Corbis Haiti's Gingerbread Houses Haiti — wracked by political strife, economic collapse and catastrophic hurricanes in the past few years — probably has bigger problems to deal with than the fate of its remaining historic architecture. But preservationists still hope to revive the turn-of-the-century gingerbread houses in the capital of Port-au-Prince, which have fallen into disrepair. These multicolored brick and timber mansions feature double doors, balconies, steep roofs and intricately carved trim and are popular among the few tourists who venture to the troubled country. Edifice / Corbis Pakistan's Disappearing Buddhas This rock engraving of Buddha delivering a sermon dates to around the 2nd century B.C. and is located along a branch of the Silk Road that runs through northern Pakistan. It is just one of some 50,000 petroglyphs that will probably be submerged after the construction of the Diamer-Basha Dam, which is scheduled for completion in 2016. Atlantide Phototravel / Corbis Old Town of Avila, Spain This medieval town in central Spain is perhaps best known for its imposing granite walls, which are 1.5 miles in circumference and remarkably intact despite being 900 years old. Construction on Avila's cathedral began around 1091 and continued through the 15th century. Michael Lewis / Corbis Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires This grand performance space (the Columbus Theater, in English) is considered one of the greatest opera houses ever built. It was completed after 20 years of construction in 1908, a time when Argentina was among the world's most prosperous countries. The Renaissance-style structure seats 2,500 and has hosted the world's great singers and conductors. The deterioration of the Argentine economy has raised concern about the nation's ability to properly maintain this architectural and historic treasure. Destinations / Corbis Russborough House, Ireland The Russborough House, completed in 1755 for the first Earl of Milltown, has a world-class art collection featuring works by Goya, Reubens and Vermeer. The collection has been targeted by thieves four times, most recently in 2002. Kim Kulish / Corbis Taos Pueblo, New Mexico, USA This Native American dwelling in northern New Mexico has been continually inhabited for more than 1,000 years. once a major trading center, the pueblo comprises adobe structures up to five stories high, which is similar to the way it appeared when European explorers first arrived, in the 16th century. It is now home to about 150 people. CuboImages srl / Alamy Italy's Ghost Town Craco, Italy, was once a thriving village built along a steep hill in the southern province of Matera. But in the 1950s, portions of the town — which had been inhabited since at least the 8th century, and possibly earlier — were damaged by a series of earthquakes. In 1963, following a massive landslide, Craco's 1,800 residents abandoned the village for a nearby valley, leaving behind a ghost town of desolate buildings. Craco's earthquakes abated in the 1970s, but its residents never returned. The empty but beautiful village has become a favorite of Hollywood location scouts; numerous movies have been filmed there, including The Passion of the Christ. Kyoto's Traditional Houses These traditional Japanese townhouses, or machiya, date as far back as the 1600s, when the ancient capital's merchants and craftspeople began using them as a place to live and work under a single roof. The houses, with their wooden latticework and traditional clay roof tiles, are difficult and costly to maintain; machiya are being torn down and replaced with new, modern homes and high-rise buildings at a rate of about 500 a year. The Fortified Churches of Transylvania Under regular attack by Ottomans and Taters, early Saxon settlers in Transylvania (now part of Romania) designed their villages essentially as fortresses. The central feature of many villages was the church — imposing edifices of brick and stone that were used as shelters in time of danger. Some 300 fortified churches were built around the city of Sibiu, in southern Romania, between the 12th and 16th centuries, but the great majority have fallen to the ravages of time. Angelo Hornak / Alamy Mexico's Surrealist Garden Surrealist architect Edward James dreamed up Las Pozas as a real-life Garden of Eden. Built during a span from 1949 to 1984, the concrete sculpture garden includes eye-crossing palaces, temples and pagodas that are interlaced with pools and cascading waterfalls. With 80 acres of land near the village of Xilitla, Mexico, the crumbling, $5 million masterpiece got a boost in 2007 when a foundation was created to oversee its restoration.