Baojiatun Watermill in Guizhou Province, China  and Sumda Chun Gonpa in Leh, India have been honoured with the Awards of Excellence in the 2011 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. 

The Award of Distinction went to the Altit Fort in Hunza, Pakistan.  The two Awards of Merit include the Serkhang Monastery in Qinghai Province, China and the Scriptures Hall of Wat Thepthidaram Worawihan in Bangkok, Thailand.

Three Honourable Mentions were also announced. They are the SCAD Hong Kong (Former North Kowloon Magistracy Building) in Hong Kong SAR, China; the Na Phra Lan Historic Shophouses in Bangkok, Thailand; and the Salarian Pavilion of Wat Kutao in Songkhla, Thailand.

A total of 34 entries, from 10 countries in the region, were submitted for consideration. The conservation project entries include museums, hotels, offices, cultural institutions, educational institutions, religious sites, industrial sites, public institutions, residential buildings and urban districts.
     
The two 2011 Jury Commendation for Innovation were awarded to the Sydney Harbour YHA and the Big Dig Archaeology Education Centre in New South Wales, Australia and the Ma’anqiao Village in Sichuan Province, China.  The Jury Commendation recognizes newly-built structures which demonstrate outstanding standards for contemporary architectural design which are well-integrated into historic contexts.

The UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation recognizes the efforts of private individuals and organizations that have successfully restored and conserved structures and buildings of heritage value in the region.

UNESCO believes that recognizing private efforts to restore and adapt historic properties will encourage other property owners to undertake conservation projects within the community, either independently or by seeking public-private partnerships.

A panel of international conservation experts in architecture, urban planning, heritage conservation and landscape design conducted the selection process. The jury panel was particularly impressed with a heightened level of community participation and involvement within the conservation process for this year’s entry submissions. The winners were selected based on the way that the projects reflected a clear understanding and application of the various components of the Awards criteria, such as the articulation of the spirit of place, appropriate use or adaption, or the project’s contribution to the surrounding environment and the local community’s cultural and historical continuum.

Eligible projects must be more than 50 years old and the restoration must have been completed within the past 10 years.  Buildings must have also been in viable use for at least one year from the date of the awards announcement. 

The 2011 cycle of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation is supported by the Macau Foundation. UNESCO and the Macau Foundation share similar objectives in promoting, developing and nurturing the importance of our cultural heritage.
 
To download the press release, click here

To learn more about the winners, click here