World Monuments Fund preserving heritage in the Arab World

With over six decades of global heritage preservation experience, WMF is deepening its engagement in the Arab World where it has been working for almost three decades. Leading this initiative, from November 2024, is Dr. Flouty, who, as the first Regional Representative appointed specifically for the Arab region, has been championing WMF’s mission there for the past year and a half.

“My role is to promote WMF’s work throughout the Arab region and raise awareness about the importance of preserving its cultural heritage”, Dr. Flouty noted. 

The World Monuments Watch: A Lifeline for Endangered Sites

One of WMF's flagship initiatives is the World Monuments Watch, a biennial nomination-based program launched in 1996 that selects 25 heritage sites from around the world in urgent need of support. With over 350 applications received this cycle, the 2027 Watch list will be announced in February.  

To date, WMF has supported more than 700 sites globally, with around 60 of them located across the Arab world. This year alone, the organization received roughly 20 nominations from the Arab region for the 2027 Watch.

In the 2025 cycle, three Arab sites made the Watch list: Debdou in Morocco which is recognized for its centuries-old architecture and unique history of multifaith coexistence, significant urban sites in Tunis were spotlighted to protect their architectural continuity against rapid modern development and environmental impacts, and Old Gaza, and its need to map out recovery and restoration efforts for mosques, markets, and historic architecture central to local culture. 

Lebanon has benefited significantly from the program over the years, with eight Lebanese sites being nominated to the Watch, in Tripoli, Beirut, Tyre and other cities. "We've already helped more than sixty sites in the Arab world throughout the thirty years," Dr. Flouty noted, reflecting on the organization's long track record in the region.

Restoring Mosul: A Major Milestone

Among the most significant ongoing projects in the region is the restoration of the Mosul Cultural Museum in Iraq, the country’s second-largest museum, which was heavily damaged in 2015 just as it prepared to reopen after a major renovation. Designed by iconic Iraqi architect Mohamed Makiya, the museum is an important example of Iraq’s modernist architecture.

Since 2020, WMF has been leading the building conservation efforts as part of an international partnership that includes the Smithsonian Institution, the Louvre Museum, the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH), and ALIPH as main funder. These efforts focus on stabilizing the structure, repairing damage, and planning for the museum’s reopening and new museography. Thanks to a community-centered design process,  the museum will be a space for cultural regeneration and public gathering. “When we work on a site, we aim for a global collaboration” Dr Flouty Said. 

The museum’s reopening is expected in early 2027, Dr. Flouty noted, “the exact date will be announced soon.” Journalists from the Arab world may be invited to attend the reopening. Once reopened, the museum will symbolize Mosul’s cultural resilience and serve as a model for heritage recovery in post-conflict environments.

Cultivating Resilience: Gardens and Climate Change

Beyond heritage buildings and archaeological sites, WMF is actively addressing the intersection of climate change and historic gardens through its signature program, Cultivating Resilience. This initiative strengthens the ability of historic gardens and designed landscapes to adapt to the impacts of climate change by combining traditional knowledge with modern scientific approaches. “WMF invites proposals from heritage greenspaces of all types that are in active use by and of value to local communities but currently lack a climate risk assessment and/or adaptation plan” Dr. Flouty Said.

Applicants must demonstrate a clear adaptation and physical conservation need and show how enhancing the site’s resilience can contribute to addressing broader global climate challenges. Successful participants commit to disseminating knowledge, sharing best practices, and building adaptive capacities in their regions. Sites selected for Cultivating Resilience receive financial and technical support to address specific conservation issues, assistance with climate risk assessments and adaptation planning, membership in WMF’s international network, and the potential for additional funding to support regional knowledge sharing and capacity building.

Applications for the program are open through June 20, 2026.

A Broader Mission

Dr. Flouty's appointment reinforces WMF's recognition that the Arab world, home to some of humanity's oldest and most significant heritage, deserves dedicated advocacy and representation within the global preservation community. "We try to inform the press and the world," he said, "about the sites and our programs as well." With programs spanning emergency intervention, long-term restoration, climate adaptation, and international collaboration, WMF's work in the Arab world is both expansive and deeply consequential, and—with a regional voice now in place—increasingly visible.