Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation 2010 Awards

Around the world, cultural heritage is the bedrock we depend on for stability, identity, and increasingly our livelihoods.

Once gone, our heritage can't be replaced.

The U.S. Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation supports the preservation of our cultural heritage to extend its value as a vital and defining element of our communities and nations, and to ensure its continued use, enjoyment and relevance both today and beyond.

The Ambassador's Fund turns 10 this year. Have a look at some of the projects we're supporting.

In southeast Asia, Indonesia to be exact, the Ambassador's Fund is supporting a project to preserve and protect megalithic sites in and around Lora-Lindu National Park in Central Sulawesi Province, some of them more than 3,000 years old.

In the city of Herat in western Afghanistan, the fund is supporting a second phase of conservation work at the city's 15th-century citadel.

Begun in 2008 with a grant from the fund, the conservation of the citadel has not only given this fantastic monument a new lease on life,

but has also created jobs and developed Afghan professional and craft skills.

At the Greco-Roman site of Cyrene in Libya, in north Africa, the Ambassador's Fund is supporting a project to inventory and preserve artifacts uncovered during several years of excavations.

The museum at the site takes care of tens of thousands of sculptures, architectural fragments, bronze and ceramic statues, coins and other objects that tell a story of this world heritage site.

The ancient village of Tichit in the west African country Mauritania is well known for its oasis, early 19th-century stone mosque, and the mosque's 52-foot minaret.

The Ambassador's Fund is supporting an urgent project here to repair a 13-foot vertical crack in the minaret that if ignored could lead to its total collapse.

In the Transylvanian village of Moardas in central Romania, this fortified medieval church survived the attacks of waves of invaders in the 13th and 14th centuries, but now it's losing the fight against time and the elements.

The fund is supporting a project here to restore the walls and roof of the building and to make it available for use once again by the community.

The magnitude 7 earthquake that struck Haiti in January of this year devastated the country and stunned the world.

The quake destroyed lives and livelihoods and impacted everything the people of Haiti held dear, including their cultural heritage.

The Ambassador's Fund is supporting the efforts of Haiti's Institute for the Protection of National Heritage to determine the full extent of the damage to the historic buildings and sites in the capital city of Port-au-Prince only 10 miles from the epicenter of the quake.

Established by Congress, the U.S. Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation has demonstrated America's respect for the cultural heritage of others through more than 640 projects worldwide since 2001.

Thanks for listening and thanks for taking care of your cultural heritage.