The list is compiled by the World Monuments Fund, a public organization that publishes such data every two years. The list includes 100 independent buildings or ensembles that are currently facing the most serious danger - be it from hostilities, environmental disasters and developers chasing profit. Some buildings have been included in the list over the years, but more often the situation is improved by drawing public attention to the problem of the monument.
It should be noted that the list includes not only masterpieces lost among the forests or on the outskirts of megacities: now it includes the Riga Dome Cathedral, the vaults of which show signs of destruction, and the famous complex of the Jvari monastery in Georgia. The need to restore prominent, tourist-favorite buildings often eludes local authorities.
The entire complex of monuments from different times on the territory of Iraq was included in the list as a single item. In the same way, the architectural ensemble of the center of Mexico City, suffering from serious environmental pollution, was included there. West Thebes, a complex whose architectural and historical significance is difficult to overestimate, was first included in the list - it is threatened by uncontrolled tourism, looting by local residents and, most importantly, a constant rise in the level of groundwater due to the opening of the Aswan Dam in 1970. As a result, many the tombs of the nobility were flooded, the foundations of the temples suffer because of the salinity of the soil.
Russia is represented in the list by the building of the People's Commissariat for Finance, which has appeared there for several years, and by two new points: the house of Konstantin Melnikov in Moscow and the Semyonovskoye-Otrada estate near Moscow.
