Nominate a Site

The Chapel of the Sorbonne, a 17th-century architectural landmark in the heart of Paris, was included on the 2025 Watch to highlight the opportunity to restore and reopen a building that has remained closed for more than two decades following storm damage. Through the Watch, WMF has partnered with the Sorbonne (Chancellerie des Universités) and city authorities to advance restoration, return the chapel to public use, and reintegrate it into Paris’s cultural and academic life. 

The Ma’u Henua Indigenous Community, the administrators of Rapa Nui National Park, nominated the site to the 2020 Watch seeking assistance to preserve the unique rock carvings of Orongo. Since the nomination, WMF and the community have worked with geologists and structural engineers to study the conservation issues impacting the island’s rock carvings, identify preservation solutions, and facilitate community-based decision-making.

Traditional water fountains, known as hitis, have provided water for Kathmandu Valley residents since the sixth century. The Chiva Chaitya Organization nominated the site to the 2022 Watch, highlighting how hitis, which continue to serve 20% of the area’s population, can help address a water crisis exacerbated by climate change. WMF is working with local partners to study and rehabilitate select fountains, underscoring their value for present-day life.

Destroyed in 2014 by Daesh (also known as ISIS), this Yazidi shrine was nominated to the 2020 Watch by the Eyzidi Organization for Documentation. Through the Watch, WMF worked with local partners to reconstruct Mam Rashan, restoring its role as a religious and ceremonial center for the returning Yazidi community and showcasing the power of cultural heritage in post-conflict recovery.

Nominated by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, these 12 sites include churches, hotels, private homes, and other meeting spaces that played key roles in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. The 2018 Watch supported the creation of a consortium dedicated to identifying, preserving, and promoting the state’s Civil Rights heritage. The collaboration also produced Voices of Alabama, an oral history project documenting the sites’ stories and their contributions to the African American struggle for freedom and equality.

The Corps de Volontaires Béninois nominated this cultural landscape, known for its distinctive earthen dwellings, to the 2020 Watch. Since then, WMF has collaborated with local artisans and community members to conserve these structures and teach traditional construction techniques to a new generation of builders. The project planted 5,000 trees to provide a sustainable wood supply and supported women’s groups to link their traditional role in building with new opportunities for economic independence.