page_title: World Monuments Fund
section_title: International Fund for Monuments (1965–1984)
hierarchical_section_title: World Monuments Fund / History / International Fund for Monuments (1965–1984)
caption_attribution_description: English: The Citadelle Laferrière, near Milot in Haiti, seen from the access path. Français&#160;: La citadelle Laferrière, près de Milot en Haïti, vue depuis le chemin d'accès.
context_page_description: World Monuments Fund is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and training.
  Founded in 1965, WMF is headquartered in New York, and has offices and affiliates around the world, including Cambodia, France, Peru, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. In addition to hands-on management, the affiliates identify, develop, and manage projects, negotiate local partnerships, and attract local support to complement funds provided by donors.
context_section_description: The International Fund for Monuments (IFM) was an organization created by Colonel James A. Gray (1909–1994) after his retirement from the U.S. Army in 1960. Gray had conceived of a visionary project to arrest the settlement of the Leaning Tower of Pisa by freezing the soil underneath, and formed the organization in 1965 as a vehicle for the implementation of this idea. Even though this project did not materialize, an opportunity arose for the young organization to participate in the conservation of the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia. In 1966 Gray secured the support of philanthropist Lila Acheson Wallace (1889–1984), who offered $150,000 to the International Fund for Monuments and UNESCO for this project. The project continued until the Communist overthrow of Haile Selassie I and the subsequent expulsion of foreigners from Ethiopia. After Ethiopia, Gray's interests shifted to Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in Chile. Gray formed the Easter Island Committee, with Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl (1914–2002) as its honorary chairman. Gray arranged to have one of the monolithic human figures known as moai exhibited in the United States. With the help of anthropologist William Mulloy (1917–1978), Gray selected an 8-foot-tall (2.4 m), five-ton head, which was exhibited in front of the Seagram Building in New York and in the Pan American Union building in Washington, D.C.
  An important chapter for the organization started with its involvement in the broad international effort led by UNESCO for the protection of the city of Venice, Italy from catastrophic flooding. After the extremely high tide of 4 November 1966, the city, including the historic Piazza San Marco, was inundated for more than twenty-four hours. The International Fund for Monuments set up a Venice Committee, with Professor John McAndrew (1904–1978) of Wellesley College as chairman and Gray as executive secretary. On the part of the Committee, appeals were made to the American public, and local chapters set up in American cities. This early initiative led to the formation of the independent organization Save Venice in 1971. These efforts helped establish a reputation for IFM. In Spain, the organization formed a Committee for Spain under the leadership of American diplomat and U.S. Ambassador to Spain in 1965–67 Angier Biddle Duke (1915–1995).
  At the invitation of UNESCO in the 1970s IFM became involved in architectural conservation in Nepal, where the organization adopted the Mahadev temple complex in Gokarna, in Nepal's Kathmandu Valley. The 14th-century temple building was surveyed, rotten timbers were replaced, and the foundations were strengthened. Sculpted wooden architectural elements were painstakingly cleaned of layers of a motor oil coating that had been applied annually for protection.
  Also at the request of UNESCO, IFM launched a project for the preservation of the Citadelle Laferrière, a large mountaintop fortress near Milot, Haiti. The site was the keystone of a defensive system constructed in the early period of Haitian independence to protect the young state from French attempts to reclaim it as a  colony. Local artisans reconstructed wooden and tile roofs over the grand gallery and batteries using traditional carpentry methods, and consolidated the stone galleries of the fortress. IFM also sponsored a traveling exhibition and a film about the history of the Citadelle, which was used for educational purposes in the United States.
caption: Aerial view of the Citadelle Laferrière, in northern Haiti, a conservation project of the World Monuments Fund (1985–87).
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "E5600", "Image Orientation": "0", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "E5600v1.0", "Image DateTime": "2006:09:16 11:27:07", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "215", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2289", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4599", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/140", "EXIF FNumber": "38/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:09:16 11:27:07", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:09:16 11:27:07", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "15", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1944", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2165", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Custom", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "90", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "04f2902c480fd132894b0d441d1c33db"}