Posted on April 20, 2026 by Angela Lombardi
I am deeply honored and sincerely grateful to receive the Texas Preservation Hero Award from the Conservation Society of San Antonio—a recognition that resonates with both my professional journey and my personal commitment to heritage. Some of my earliest memories—and questions about the world—centered on a wounded historic monument near my childhood home, partially reconstructed after World War II and visible from my parents’ bedroom window. As a practitioner in Italy and now as an academic in the United States, my work has always been guided by a commitment to rigorous standards in documentation, assessment, and preservation planning—balancing local, national, and international principles, even when they may appear to be in tension. However, my work In the US has never been confined to academia alone.
I strive to ensure that research and scholarship have a tangible and positive impact on communities. Heritage, in my view, is not only a physical legacy but also a shared cultural that connects people across time and place. My international experience working on UNESCO World Heritage Sites—including the Cathedral of Siena, the archaeological sites of Baalbek and Tyre in Lebanon, the historic center of Lima, Peru, Erbil in Iraq, Merv National Park in Turkmenistan and Cliff Palace in Colorado (USA)—has shaped my perspective. Bringing this approach to San Antonio, at a pivotal moment when the Missions were being nominated as a World Heritage Site, allowed me to root global expertise within a deeply local context.
Through my work at the Center for Cultural Sustainability, I have contributed to the development of key documents supporting the conservation planning of the Missions. At the same time, my independent research has explored the intangible, symbolic, and community-based dimensions of heritage—engaging with local neighborhoods to better understand their histories, expectations, and even their concerns and traumas. Preserving heritage is inherently complex. Its material fabric is often threatened by economic pressures, while its intangible meanings can be eroded by changing cultural trends. Yet heritage belongs to all of us—it is a shared human inheritance that binds communities together. San Antonio has become my home, much like the city where I was born and the one I was raised. I often think of heritage as roots: like trees, we continue to grow, producing new branches and leaves, but without strong roots, that growth cannot be sustained. My work is dedicated to safeguarding those roots, ensuring that they continue to nourish everyone in the present and for future generations. For this reason, I am especially honored that the San Antonio community recognizes and values the perspective and contributions I have developed over the past thirteen years.
— Angela Lombardi
