Lamanai Put on World Monuments Watch

The World Monuments Fund has announced that the Lamanai Archaeological Reserve and its wider Cultural Landscape has been named to the 2022 World Monuments Watch. This is a selection of twenty-five heritage sites of worldwide significance whose preservation is urgent and vital to the surrounding communities. According to Heritage Education Network Belize, the Watch sites demonstrate pressing global challenges of climate change, imbalanced tourism, underrepresentation, and recovery from crisis. Lamanai, in the Orange Walk District, is an archaeological site with histories of the Maya, Spanish, Chinese and British descendants in Belize. Launched in 1996 with founding sponsor American Express, the Watch is announced every two years and includes heritage places nominated by individuals and community-based organizations across the globe. To date, W.M.F. has contributed more than one hundred and ten million dollars toward projects at more than three hundred Watch sites. The local nominator, Heritage Education Network Belize is a non-profit organization established in 2020 and led by Belizean and international archaeologists; heritage professionals and Belizean volunteers with forty plus years of collective experience in the field.