The Foundation has been working with two directors of the National Gallery in order to gift a Bluthner concert grand piano. This has taken some five years of nefotiation but December 2016 the piano will be installed thereby allowing for a much greater flexibility in the National Gallery’s concert plans. The idea behind this gift…

Following on Patrck Matthiesen’s visit to the Amazon in March 2016 and the development plan for several projects recorded in an earlier blog I am pleased to announce that great progress has been achieved. Solar lighting has been installed in several houses but above all at the Primary School and kindergarten in Porto Prado. This…

REPORT OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE MATTHIESEN FOUNDATION FOR THE YEAR, APRIL 2015 TO MARCH 2016 The Foundation made ex gratia payments to the following beneficiaries: Glacier Trust Nepal earthquake relief Listening Books The Courtauld Institute of Art Fund The Microloan Foundation English Touring Opera The Bach Players Crisis Homeless Children with Cancer Happy Days Children Holidays Woofability…

Ania`s story: Nature Greatest Gift

The Childrens Lands concept and projects have been sponsored by this Foundation since 1999 since they were first conceived together with Joaquin Leguia and ANIA. The concept has been recognised by UNESCO and awarded a Prize of Excellence. Attached here in a PDF is the latest illustrated manual aimed at children themselves rather than organisers.…

In 2015 the Foundation sponsored through the Greenshoots Foundation a project to train young people in farming techniques in northern cambodia close to the  Thai border. Full details are explained in the accompanying PDF.

The Foundation together with the Orbis Pictus trust underwrote 50% of the publication costs at Electa of the final volume cataloguing the collections at Capodimonte, Naples. This volume contains a catalogue of all the paintings by foreign non-Italian artists in the collection.

A new brochure outlining the scope of the Childrens lands projects has been produced in English by ANIA. It is here attached in PDF form. Click the logo below to open. New links will soon be loaded on the Home Page to the three user manuals instructing how to start and run a Childrens Land project. Several…

In 2009-13 this Foundation sponsored and oversaw the construction and commissioning of a Micro Hydro Electric scheme. The original scheme was fraught with problems and failed and under the guidance of this Foundation was radically altered and rebuilt since which time it has functioned without flaws. The lengthy history is recorded in previous posts. The…

This year the Foundation organises and sponsors the eighth Midsummer Classical Concert in Rollo di Andora, Liguria on August 02 at 9pm. this is a major concert of almost two hours with an interval for regreshments. The soloists are the renowned Uzbekistan pianist, Nafis Umerkulova and the American cellist and Professor of Music, Peter Lewy. Mario…

The Foundation has embarked on three new projects for this year. The Childrens lands Porto Prado project in or near Iquitos is being expanded. it was started last year and has proved a big success. After extensive negotiations over the last year we have managed to get the authorities to deed to the Iquitos children…

Fifteen years ago the Sonene project in the Madre de Dios region of Amazonia [Peru] was our first attempt at an eco project with ANIA and Joaquin Leguia our Lima associate. The money we provided was the seed money for four projects two of which have evolved down the years. We produced later nutritional guide books, a local knowledge…

The Iquitos project modelled on the plans established over the last 14 years which have won a UNESCO seal of approval is already a huge success although only conceived early this year.  Run in conjunction with CREA and ANIA and financed by The Matthiesen Foundation it is receiving 20,000 visitors annually and 8000 school children.…

The project to restore the early wheel window and nineteenth century glass has now been completed as can be seen in the attached photos. The project was sponsored by The Matthiesen Foundation in memory of the late Olga Matthiesen http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/01/03/PAT.htm states: This church is well-known because of its fine late 12th century south doorway under an unusual contemporary…

You are cordially invited to attend a concert of Baroque music 1700-1740 from Vivaldi to Bach at the baroque church of the SS Trinita in the mediaevil village of Rollo, above Andora in Liguria, Italy. This is the seventh concert arranged by the Foundation. The concert raises money destined this year for orphans in South…

The Foundation is continuing its UNESCO recognised co-sponsorship programme with ANIA this time in Iquitos in the Amazon basin. A Childens Forest project will be initiated combined with the CREA sponsored Amazon Manatee Rescue Programme already in existence since 2008 and which is run with recognition from the Dallas Zoo and other environmental bodies. The…

Work has finally started on the restoration and conservation of the early Romanesque wheel window sponsored by this foundation in conjuncrion with Orbis Pictus Trust. To see details of the programme of repair at St. Mary’s please click the PDF symbol below.

The biggest media company in Peru, El Commercio, owner of newspapers and TV channels is to publicise The Childrens Lands projects sponsored by ANIA in conjunction with The Matthiesen Foundation thereby reaching a regional population of ten million.

The Foundation was instrumental in raising funds and making a donation for the conservation of the wheel window which is among the earliest in Britain. The work has now commenced. The attached photo shows the window before conservation.

The attached pdf will give an idea of the significant progress at the Santa Cruz site where a large group of children are fully engaged.

Early this year in association with ANIA and JP Morgan we funded an educational programme at the Botanical Gardens in Lima, the oldest in S.America, which receives 60,000 visitors a year.The exhibit was to educate the public on the environmental and educational benefits of the Childrens Lands projects we have been associated with for 13…

The Foundation has made grants to a variety of charities including London Southbank  Sinfonia; English National Opera to increase the awareness of opera among children;The Otter Trust; Conservation of the Romanesque Church of St Mary’s in Patrixbourne, Kent; restoration of the organ at St George’s Hanover Square; Harrow School Development Trust for a sculpture court; The Pantin Library, Oxford;…

The attached pdf shows the huge strides that have been achieved with this project in the desert in southern Peru which has become a showpiece linked to our current project at the Botanical Gardens in Lima. A small stand of threatened Huarango trees is being preserved and the children are enjoying their contact with nature causing…

The second phase of this project which is designed to raise the awareness of children in Peru to the problems of ecology and conservation has just been completed. A fuller report will be posted shortly.The Children’s Lands concept has just been adopted by the Six nations of The Grand River in Canada and is undergoing…