TBIH2022 | Kesennuma Historic Citiscape

Programme Manager at the World Monuments Fund Hunghsi Chao talks to TBIH's Daphne Becket about the Kesennuma’s historic cityscape restoration project. It won the 2021 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation / Special Recognition for Sustainable Development.

In 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake triggered a tsunami that struck the northeast coast of Japan, almost completely destroying Kesennuma’s historic structures and fishing port. Following the site’s inclusion on the 2012 World Monuments Watch, World Monuments Fund launched the Save Our Culture initiative, incorporating both international cooperation and private/public partnership, and worked with Kesennuma Kazamachi Cityscape Preservation Association to restore six historic buildings. A decade after the disaster, this award-winning project has been serving as a driver for revitalization of Kesennuma’s historic cityscape, local economy, and community spirit.

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