Amidst an increase in space activity, the World Monuments Fund added the Moon to its 2025 Watch List, which highlights endangered heritage sites around the world—and, for the first time, beyond.
An Otherworldy First for the WMF Watch List
The World Monuments Fund (WMF) added the Moon to its Watch List, which designates global heritage sites needing protection and preservation. The 2025 list includes 25 sites across five continents and, for the first time, outer space. The WMF emphasized the fact that dozens of historic sites occupy the surface of the Moon and that these sites are in danger of damage—and potentially even looting—as space exploration by government and private entities increases.
“For the first time, the Moon is included on the [Watch List] to reflect the urgent need to recognize and preserve the artifacts that testify to humanity’s first steps beyond Earth—a defining moment in our shared history,” said Bénédicte de Montlaur, CEO and president of WMF, in a statement.
The Importance of “Safeguarding Lunar Heritage”
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Sign up to our Free Weekly NewsletterOver 100 artifacts are preserved at Tranquility Base, the site of the 1969 moon landing. The most famous among them is Neil Armstrong’s boot print, which marks humanity’s first steps on lunar soil. “Items such as the camera that captured the televised moon landing, a memorial disk left by astronauts Armstrong and [Buzz] Aldrin, and hundreds of other objects are emblematic of this legacy,” said Alice Gorman, a space archaeologist who worked on the Moon’s nomination to the Watch List. “The inclusion of the moon underscores the universal need for proactive and cooperative strategies to protect heritage—whether on Earth or beyond—that reflect and safeguard our collective narrative.”
Tranquility Base is just one of over 90 culturally significant sites on the Moon where different nations have left artifacts. As such, the WMF’s Watch List designation applies to the entire lunar surface. Montlaur told The Art Newspaper, “Safeguarding lunar heritage will prevent damage from accelerating private and governmental activities in space, ensuring these artifacts endure for future generations.”
What Is the World Monuments Fund Watch List?
In 1996, the World Monuments Fund launched its biennial Watch List to raise awareness of endangered heritage monuments. Alongside the Moon, the 2025 list includes irreplaceable sites imminently threatened by climate change and natural disasters, such as Africa’s Swahili coast. It also highlights places impacted by conflict, such as landmarks in Ukraine and “Gaza’s historic urban fabric.”
According to a statement from Montlaur, the Watch List “underscores World Monument Fund’s commitment to ensuring that heritage preservation not only honors the past but actively contributes to building a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient future for communities around the world and beyond.”
