ICOMOS and WMF Recognize the Moon on the 2025 World Monuments Watch
The World Monuments Fund has announced its 2025 Watch: 25 sites are listed this year in the biennial nomination-based advocacy programme, including… the Moon! The nomination of the satellite originated from ICOMOS’ International Scientific Committee on Aerospace Heritage, which was launched in 2023.
As a new era of space exploration dawns, international collaboration is required to protect the physical artifacts of early Moon landings.
One giant leap for mankind
With the dawn of the Space Age, the physical remnants of early Moon landings are under threat, jeopardizing these enduring symbols of collective human achievement.
The landing site, known as Tranquility Base, preserves some 106 assorted artifacts related to the event, including the landing module, scientific instruments, biological artifacts, and commemorative objects, as well as Neil Armstrong’s iconic boot print. Tranquility Base is one of over 90 historic landing and impact sites that mark humankind’s presence on the Moon’s surface and testify to some of our most extraordinary feats of courage and ingenuity. They represent remarkable science and engineering milestones rooted in millennia of astronomical study and remain a source of growing scientific knowledge. These landing sites also mark moments that stirred the collective imagination and inspired a sense of global wonder and shared accomplishment.
[...] We have carried our artifacts and created sites on the Moon in what is only the blink of an eye in the archaeological record. All cultures through early time have narratives, traditional practices and relationships to the night sky and the Moon, in particular. The WMF seeks, as our Scientific Committee does, to view the Moon as belonging to humanity and to advocate for the preservation of significant places within an international framework, inspired by previous preservation efforts done through the Antarctic Treaty and 1954 Hague Convention as well as other global treaties and agreements. [...]
Dawn of a new Space Age
Due to the absence of wind and flowing water, the Moon landing sites have been preserved in relatively stable condition over decades without intervention. A recent resurgent interest in human activity on the satellite, including a burgeoning commercial space industry, welcomes an exciting new era of space exploration while posing novel risks to the integrity of historic landing sites. Exploitative visitation, souveniring, and looting by future missions and private lunar exploration could eventually compromise this truly unique cultural heritage, removing artifacts and forever erasing iconic prints and tracks from the Moon’s surface.
Preserving Aerospace Heritage
International collaboration can help protect this rich legacy for posterity. In 2023, an interdisciplinary group of archaeologists, heritage managers, aerospace scientists, and researchers formed the International Scientific Committee on Aerospace Heritage (ICOMOS Aerospace Heritage), which operates under ICOMOS, to promote the preservation of humanity’s tangible and intangible aerospace heritage. While the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty outlined principles for the Moon’s peaceful exploration and use, there is currently no dedicated international agreement addressing lunar heritage protection. Guided by successes such as the Antarctic Treaty System, which protects heritage that lies beyond the jurisdiction of any nation or intergovernmental body, ICOMOS Aerospace Heritage is spearheading efforts for greater recognition of lunar heritage and seeks to establish international heritage protections and regulations for future lunar missions. These efforts also invite a broader public conversation on the value of our shared lunar heritage, as well as the potential impact of human activities in space— what this new Space Age might mean for the cultural and natural landscape of the Moon.
[...] This milestone in a spatial and conceptual shift in heritage is a result of intellectual and advocacy work that has been ongoing for well over two decades. It is significant that we have achieved this as an international and voluntary group of heritage specialists, and I hope a similar spirit of internationalism will prevail in future discussions over the documentation, preservation, and management of our heritage in orbit, on other celestial bodies, and in deep space.
Through the Moon’s inclusion on the 2025 World Monuments Watch, World Monuments Fund seeks to bring greater public awareness of these remarkable historic sites and the significance of the Moon to cultures worldwide. Advocating for an international framework based on mutual respect and protection of lunar heritage can help ensure that any future lunar visitation does not damage any aspects of the Moon’s significance.