UNESCO Memory of the World Register

Submitters: Algeria, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Serbia 

The collection consists of 76 files of textual archives, 242 photographs, 1 audio archive, and 15 films. They document a purpose of exchanging ideas on international problems with a view to contributing more effectively to world peace, security and peaceful cooperation among peoples, freedom, equality and social justice for the promotion of prosperity, and narrowing the blocs’ antagonism. The First Summit Meeting of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia initiated by Ghana, India, Indonesia, United Arab Republic, and Yugoslavia. The meeting signified the active role of the Third World Countries to reduce the world tensions, calling for the end of colonialism, imperialism, and racism, as well as the promotion of peaceful co-existence and world peace. During its 60 years of existence, the Movement has gathered are 120 countries, 17 observers, 10 international organizations –equal to 4,3 billion of people (57% of the world population), and 54,53 million km2 areas of the world.

Submitter: Armenia

Komitas (1869-1935) is a musicologist and composer who was one of the pioneers in the world to invent folkmusic as phenomenon. His activity outlined new paths in collecting and analyzing traditional music and involving them in music composition. In this regard, he had a significant impact on the activity of folk music collectors of the 20th century. Komitas created a new style of composition, which synthesized authentic folk and Christian church music with Western means of composition. His work has been a guide for many composers and his music is performed by famous world musicians independent of nationality or geographic location. The significance of this collection is therefore evident in not just the Armenian, but the regional, Middle Eastern, and universal music culture. The collection includes the survived original copies and manuscripts of (a) folk music collections, (b) compositional works, and (c) scientific research on music.

Submitters: Austria, France, Germany, Romania, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

The illuminated manuscripts of the Court School of Charlemagne are amongst the preeminent highlights of medieval culture. The most important artists and scholars of the epoch gathered at Charlemagne's court and created there a "Centre d'excellence" of international standing and far-reaching influence. The magnificently illuminated codices draw upon examples of Roman, Byzantine and Insular art. Simultaneously, these led to the development of a new style characterized by great creativity and efficacy. At thetime of their creation, and to this day, these illuminated manuscripts of the Court School represent a shining pillar casting a bright light on the ideal of the political and cultural unity of the Carolingian empire. As imperial gifts, they were given to high-ranking dignitaries and important medieval cultural centres, such as Tours, Trier, Lorsch, Centula and Soissons. Thus, the work of the Court School had a formative influence on the entire epoch and cultural space.

Submitter: Azerbaijan

Known as the “Flower Book”, it is the only official poetry album, arising to date. This 227-page album was compiled in 1886. Khurshidbanu Natavan is one of the prominent representatives of 19th century Azerbaijani literature, (1832-1897), the last heir to the Karabakh Khanate, who made a significant contribution to the public life and cultural development of Azerbaijan. In the 19th century of Europe, female writers were forced to use male pseudonyms to publish their work, while Natavan chaired a literary council in a country in the Islamic East. Although women were given a high status in the family hierarchy in Azerbaijan, Natavan's personality was a phenomenon for Azerbaijan as a woman. The reason for this was that she was the only child of a noble family, had a perfect education, was the wife of Major-General of the Tsarist Russian Army Prince Khasay khan Usmiyev, and was closely acquainted with modern European culture.

Submitters: Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Poland 

For over 600 years, the history of Northern Europe was shaped by a unique organization of merchants and towns: the Hanse. Uniting some 200 towns, its commercial realm extended to some 25 present-day European states. Bridging the chasms which yawned between different states, cultures and languages, the Hanse maintained, from the 12th to the 17th century, a commercial network reaching from Flanders to Novgorod and from Bergen (Norway) to Cracow. A surprising amount of the unity of today's Europe can be traced back to the contacts between individuals and regions engendered by the Hanse. The Hanse utilized its privileges to organize the exchange of products over immense distances, enabling people to acquire products and resources which they could not obtain locally. On the heels of the exchange of products followed cultural exchanges: language and architecture, the arts and the law.

Submitters: Belgium, France 

The archives bring to light the scientific internationalism organized at the beginning of the 20th century and the perpetuation of a tradition of international cooperation. The Solvay Conferences, a privileged meeting place for leading members of the scientific community, marked an era when the foundations of classical science were being challenged by the advent of quantum physics, the birth of the theory of relativity and the emergence of a new chemistry based on the exploration of the structure of the atom and chemical bonds. The collection is composed of the archives of the International Solvay Institutes for Physics and Chemistry (from the period 1910–1962) deposited at the Free University of Brussels (ULB) and the archives of Paul Langevin (section dedicated to the Solvay Conferences) kept at the École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la ville de Paris (ESPCI Paris) – PSL University.

Submitter: Brazil

Bertha Lutz (1894-1976) was Brazilian biologist, congresswoman, and feminist, and one of the founders of the Brazilian Federation for Women’s Progress (Federação Brasileira pelo Progresso Feminino). The organization was founded in 1922 that fought for equal rights between men and women, for women’s access to education and to the labor market, and contributed to the conquest of the women’s vote, guaranteed in the 1934 Constitution. These records offer possibilities for understanding the way in which movements in favor of women’s rights were organized and related from their countries of operation, especially in the decades of 1920, 1930 and 1940. They also attest to the involvement of activists and organizations in defense of women’s rights in broad issues such as disarmament and world peace.

Submitters: Bulgaria, Germany, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Tajikistan, Türkiye, Uzbekistan 

Considered as one of the greatest Sufi masters of all times, Mawlana is a poet, philosopher, scholar, and theologian. He lived in the 13th century and produced works that still affect the whole world. Mawlana’s Kulliyat includes his complete works; Masnavi, Divân-e Shams, Fihe mâ fih (The Discourses), Majâles-e Sab’a (Seven Sermons), Maktubat (The Letters). Mawlana’s all works are written in Persian but some of them also include Arabic, Turkish and Greek expressions, which supports the multicultural approach of his philosophy even that time. With thousands of manuscript copies all around the world, Mawlana’s works are translated into numerous languages. His works have the greatest academic significance for the study of the history and culture of the people of eastern countries. They contain maxims and wise sayings, a set of instructive story verses, examples from the life of prophets, lords, wanderers, slaves, lovers, etc.

Submitter: Canada

Indian residential schools operated across Canada for almost 150 years. Their purpose: the total assimilation of Indigenous children into settler society. The Chief Justice of the Canadian Supreme Court ruled this Indigenous social erasure is a form of genocide. Generations of Indigenous children lost their languages, spiritual practices, and knowledge systems. Without action, Canada and the international community is confronted with the permanent loss of these Indigenous cultures and societies. In 2007, the Supreme Court created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to investigate the history and legacy of Canada’s residential school system. The TRC’s six-year investigation created a unique body of evidence: approximately four million historical documents and almost 7,000 Survivor testimonies recording the systemic social indoctrination of Indigenous children.

Submitter: Canada

This collection bears witness to the progress of the nursing profession in North America and its influence throughout the world. In 1639, the French Augustinian sisters, the first women missionaries in history, founded the first hospital north of Mexico in Quebec City, under the reign of Louis XIII, King of France. This community, which became Canadian, went on to establish a further eleven hospitals in Canada and contributed to the expansion of healthcare in various developing countries. Between 1639 and 2018, the Augustinian sisters produced and preserved nearly a linear kilometre of documents that tell the story of more than 1,800 women dedicated to caring for the poor and the sick. The Augustinian sisters innovated by drawing on the medicinal practices of the indigenous peoples and contributing to the development of scientific discoveries and best medical practices as the world went through epidemics, wars and political, social and religious transformations. By sharing their archives, the Augustinians of Canada are providing access to the history of the evolution of healthcare over a period of more than 375 years.

Submitter: China

The Four Treatises of Tibetan Medicine is divided into four parts: tsagyu(root Treatise), shegyu(explanatory Treatise), managagyu(treatise of oral instruction), and chimagyu(the last Treatise). It was compiled from 8th to the 12th centuries, and it is the most fundamental classic of sowa rigpa(traditional Tibetan medicine). The Four Treatises fully shows the development and evolution of sowa rigpa, and has also played an essential role in the dissemination and development of sowa rigpain the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and Himalayan and Mongolian regions. It not only represents the highest level of medical care in Tibet in ancient times, but also reflects the study of humanities, history, tradition, literature, art, and craft in earlier period of Tibet. Four xylograph versions of the Four Treatises are the proofread and revised editions in different historical phases, while the one gold-ink manuscript version is the best-preserved rare book.

Submitter: China (Macao Special Administrative Region)

The collection, dated from the late Ming Dynasty to mid-20th century, comprises over 6,600 volumes of archives and manuscripts in 2,300 titles, rare books, Bayeux Scripture, old photos, and paintings. These materials were created and accumulated by masters and intelligentsias connected with the Temple Kong Tac Lam, since its formal establishment in 1924 as a result of its educational and cultural activities especially for women in Macao, Mainland China, and surrounded areas. An important documentary heritage of Macao, the collection bears witness to the unique and extraordinary role of the Temple in the dissemination of Buddhist teaching and ideology for women in Macao, Mainland China and in the neighbouring countries, as well as in advocating social changes and reforms, especially in the liberation of and raise of social status of women.

Submitter: Croatia

The archives enable a detailed studyof history and everyday life of the Republic as well as the City of Dubrovnik (1022-1808). Furthermore, they provide plenty of data regarding the administrative and legal organisational structure of the Republic and give insight into the connections between Dubrovnik and foreign rulers and countries. The Republic of Dubrovnik had their embassies and other diplomatic missions on foreign courts all over the Mediterranean region and Europe. The mounting evidence of these contacts that include instructions to ambassadors, letters to consuls, charters of the European and world leaders, kings and emperors is carefully preserved and make a huge corpus of funds of the Republic of Dubrovnik. Given their continuity and the scope of the preserved holdings, as well as their age and value, these archival holdings are one of the richest in this part of Europe.

Submitter: Cuba

Four centuries of a city's history are revealed in the documentary series Acts of the Havana City Council (colonial period 1550-1898)/ Actas del Ayuntamiento de La Habana (período colonial 1550-1898). These are the most original, unique and old documentsthat are treasured in the Historical Archive of the Office of the Historian of Havana in 273 books and that served as motivation for Dr. Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring to create the Municipal Historical Archive in 1938, thus rescuing a heritage indispensabledocumentary for the Cuban and Latin American nations. This documentary series is divided into two groups or subseries: the original books (1550-1898) and the transcripts books (1550-1809). The former ones stand out for their richness of content and form; the second ones for recording the work of the City Council to guarantee the durability over time of this type of documentary, since they were copies made in the second half of the 19th century.

Submitter: Czechia

The Moll's collection of maps and veduta, named after its author Bernard Paul Moll, offers a representative cross-section of cartographic production and veduta of the 16th to 18th centuries. It includes a large number of manuscript plans, maps and illustrations that offer unique representations of the territory of CentralEurope, the countries of today's Benelux, Italy and major parts of the Balkans. The unique structure of the collection is documented by two editions of original manuscript catalogues indicating its progressive growth; the excellent physical condition of the collection reveals the contemporary method of mounting of individual works. The collection stands out due to its exceptional scope and geographical coverage. The number of 12,774 units ranks it among the largest late Baroque collections of its kind. It is exceptional that it owes its creation to a mere member of the upper middle class with original interests and not to an institution or a monarch. The collection is an extremely valuable and unique resource for the history of collecting, cartography, urbanism, military science, and mining.

Submitter: Czechia

The Archives of Antonín Dvořák encompass the documentary heritage of Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904), one of the most prominent and globally renowned composers of the 19th century. Unique and irreplaceable, the documents comprised therein contain a distinctive and singular composer's reflection of the contemporary cultural world and serve as an important testimony to the evolution of the society. They include the majority of Dvořák's autographs, important copies of his compositions authenticated by him and important first editions of his works. The collection of Dvořák's correspondence and other written documents such as personal and official documents, as well as iconographic documents, diplomas and certificates of honorary memberships are of great importance. The archives bear outstanding testimony to the musical culture and the position of an artist in the second half of the 19th century which was a crucial phase in the evolution of the modern world.

Submitter: Finland (for Åland Islands)

Gustaf Erikson Shipping Company archives tell the story of the time when the last commercial sailing ships (windjammers) in global trade 1913-1949 disappeared from the oceans. The fleet of Gustaf Erikson was the biggest and most well known in the world. The windjammerssailed between Europe and Australia and South America. Kept at the Provincial Archives of Aland Islands and at the Aland Maritime Museum, these archives are used by researchers from around the world and are available also for the public. The documentary heritage consists of the records of the company, correspondence, logbooks and a big quantity of photographs and films.

Submitters: France, Burkina Faso

The collection began with the creation of ATD Fourth World, in 1957, in the homeless camp of Noisy-le-Grand, near Paris. In addition to testimonies, studies and publications that bear traces of the emergence of the voices of the poorest in the public space, the collection contains archives of dialogues on poverty between countries and the latter’s invitation to ATD Fourth World to join them in their efforts against poverty. Initially between countries of the North, this dialogue spread across the world, starting with Africa, and particularly Burkina Faso in 1980. The collection also contains the archives of successive public events until 17 October 1987, when a commemorative stone was unveiled at the Human Rights Esplanade in Paris, in honour of the victims of poverty. The collection's end date is marked by the United Nations' 22 December 1992 recognition of 17 October as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which brings the poorest people into universal history (A/RES/47/196). This collection of universal value constitutes a source of knowledge that can help in imagining and building peaceful societies where no one is left behind.

Submitters: France, Germany

A film about the mass murder of six million Jews during World War II, “Shoah” was created by Claude Lanzmann over a period of twelve years. Filmed in the 1970s, it was the first ever collection of witness accounts after 30 years of almost total absence of testimony from the survivors. “Shoah” captures the testimonies of witnesses, perpetrators and victims, often filmed near the sites of the former death camps. The film is a major educational work that provides rigorous historical information and anchors it in the memory of a global audience.

Submitter: Germany

The Codex Manesseis a medieval songbook which contains a huge and comprehensive collection of love songs from the larger German speaking world in the 12th and 13th century. The songs have clearly been collected and arranged with the intention to provide and preserve a documented overview of this genre, that was usually transmitted orally. The Codex Manesse is illustrated with 137 colourful, high-quality portraits of poets, which have become equally popular. Both songs and portraits have shaped and defined the historic image of the medieval court culture in Western Europe up to the present day. Pictures from the Codex Manesse have been used in almost every illustrated handbook on European medieval court culture and courtly literature. The arrangement of the poems according to the social status of their authors shows a deliberate plan, which is quite exceptional for medieval collections of poetry.

Submitter: Germany

The "Behaim Globe" is the world’s earliest surviving terrestrial globe. Created at the turning point between the pre-and post-Columbian eras, it is a milestone in the history of cartography. The globe was commissioned by the Nuremberg city council and was constructed and illustrated between 1492 and 1494, at the same time that Christopher Columbus was on his first and second voyages westward. The New World is not yet depicted; Eurasia and Africa still dominate the image of the world. Thus, in a unique way, the globe represents the crucial “productive mistake” that prompted Columbus’s westward voyage. The globe’s images and texts display about 2000 placenames, more than 200 cartographic symbols, and many inscriptions which report general knowledge from the time around 1500. Thus, it is an outstanding compendium of both old and new eras, simultaneously reflecting earlier, static geohistorical knowledge and new media invented to advance a dynamic global exchange.

Submitter: Greece

The lead tablets of Dodona are a unicum in the ancient Greek world dated fromthe 6th century BC to the mid-2nd century BC. They are small pieces of lead strips (measuring not more than ca. 13,20 cm long and 6,70 cm wide), on which questions were inscribed, addressed either only to Zeus or to him and Dione, his cult partner at Dodona. In total, more than 4,000 lead tablets have been discovered, scattered within the temenos of Dodona. The lead tablets give us a direct and unbiased access to the concerns of enquirers: marriage, divorce, birth and survival of children, travel, professional plans, health and healing, military service, purchase of slaves, manumission. The tablets do not only attest different dialects, but also different handwritings given the multitude of people that visited the oracle over the centuries. Due to the typological variety of the questions and the very diverse origins of the inquirers, the tablets are a set of finds that not only allows a unique insight into the cult practice of the Oracle but also offers instructive information about socio-historical and political contexts and backgrounds, as well as epigraphy and dialectology.

Submitters: Haiti, France 

In French colonial territories, slavery lasted until 1793 in the colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) and until it was finally abolished in 1848 in the others. As civil status was denied to those who were enslaved, who were deemed to be property and instruments of production, little documentary trace was produced of their identities or lives. The regime of civil status and last names in place in France since the sixteenth century did not apply to them. There are, however, several sets of registers recording the major events in their lives, because of compulsory Catholic baptism and changes in the law when the era of slavery ended. This collection consists of the following registers: baptisms, marriages, and burials (later: births, marriages and deaths); emancipations; persons who were newly freed; identifying details or numbers (and census return sheets); fugitive announcements. These records are significant given a huge increase in demand for ancestry searches among the diasporas of people of African descent in the past 20 years.

Submitter: Indonesia

“To Build the World Anew” is a speech delivered at the 15th General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) on 30 September 1960 in New York, United States. It conveyed by Sukarno, the first president of Indonesia and a nationalist leader who declared Indonesia’s independence, as well as a leading figure among Asian and African leaders during the decolonization period. The speech was recorded in textual, photograph, sound recording and film archives. In the speech, Sukarno outlined his conceptual thinking about nationalism, anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism, solidarity and social justice among nations, peaceful coexistence and disarmament policies, reconstruction/ reinforcement of UN, and Pancasila (the five basic principles) as an alternative ideology. By elaborating these concepts, Sukarno articulated the desire of the newly independent states to be recognized as equal member of the international society. Sukarno’s concept had also encouraged other countries in the world to be more active in creating world peace and equality, which was manifested in the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961.

Submitters: Indonesia, Netherlands 

The Hikayat Aceh is a 17th century indigenous history of the former sultanate of Aceh, which is located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. Written in Malay in the Arabic script, it chronicles and eulogizes the Acehnese Sultan Iskandar Muda (1583-1636; reigned 1607-1636; national hero of Indonesia since 1993). The text contains many stories about life and customs in the Acehnese courts, relations with the outside world (including Portugal, China, and Turkey), internal rivalries, wars, and (Islamic) religion. It is a unique work using traditional Malay literary styles with a rich Persian influence full of diverse information and historical detail. The Hikayat Aceh is different from earlier court chronicles in the sense that it discusses the life of a single person. Although “Malay” in composition, the text represents an older hagiographic tradition fashioned mainly after Persian examples probably commissioned by Iskandar Muda’s daughter, Sultana Safiyyat al-Din Syah (r.1641–1675). The Hikayat Aceh is an indispensable tool for all interested in the history of Aceh and its exceptional political, cultural, and religious traits.

Submitter: International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) 

The Gramophone discs and papers of the EMI Archive Trust 1897 –1914 form an unparalleled collection in terms of scale, scope, richness and cultural depth, offering a substantial record of the world’s first reflection of itself in recorded sound, not only exemplifying culture as it sounded, but culture as it was listened to. The collection consists of approximately 116,000 virtually pristine sound recordings and over 100 metres of supporting paper assets documenting the birth of the global recording industry, and the technical innovation that set the template for the industry’s rapid expansion. The recordings encompass classical and popular music repertoires, urban and rural traditions as well as spoken word material. While the bulk of the material was recorded throughout Western and Central Europe, over 20,000 recordings document contemporary culture in the Arab States, Asia and Eastern Europe. They represent many cultures and groups not otherwise well documented, often prior to significant upheaval, including industrialisation, repression or genocide.

Submitter: Iran (Islamic Republic of) 

The collection contains 107 documents from the correspondence of heads of states, kings, prominent political figures, leaders of ethnic and religious minorities with the Shahs of Iran during the 1807-1925 period, under the Qajar rule. These documents reflect part of the history of international relations in the modern world, during an especially sensitive historical period that left its permanent imprint on the political geography of the world, including on Iran. The documents include a variety of topics, including peace and friendship treaties, cultural relations, trade, as well as international events. During this period, many agreements and treaties with Iran were concluded by various European states and signed and sealed by such figures as Napoleon Bonaparte, George III, Nicholas I, and Queen Victoria. These documents embody the style of the official correspondence of the time. In addition to textual and content value, they also contain and exhibit formal, artistic, and aesthetic significance.

Submitter: Iran (Islamic Republic of) 

The document collection of the shrine of Shaykh Safī al-Dīn Ardabīlī (1253-1334 CE) is one of the best-known and most unique collections in the Muslim world due to the antiquity, number, and variety of the documents in it. Currently housed atthe National Museum of Iran, the collection contains 590 documents, most of which date back to the 13th and 14th centuries. They consist of royal decrees, administrative papers, legal records and contracts produced by Islamic courts and other public authorities in a great variety of languages, including Persian, Arabic, Mongolian, and Chinese, Uyghur Turkic. Offering unique and highly revealing documentary evidence about the broader Persianate world stretching from China to Anatolia, and from the steppes of South Russia to India, the documents shed a very important light on the dynamics of religious, ethnic, and cultural coexistence that characterized the multi-ethnic, multi-religious and cosmopolitan society of medieval and early modern Iran.

Submitter: Italy

The Apodissary Fund of the ancient Neapolitan public banks, part of the Historical Archive founded in 1819, preserves numerous documents relating to eight public banks' activity in the city of Naples from the 16th to the beginning of the 19th century. The Apodissary Fund, which arrived intact to date, testifies the evolution in money circulation, passing from money to establishing the credit certificates. Thanks to the reasons of payment detailed on the credit certificates, the Apodissary Fund constitutes a source of information of extraordinary interest about the Modern Age, for the economic, credit, political, cultural, and artistic history, not only of the Kingdom of Naples but also of the European states and worldwide. The Apodissary Fund allows historical reconstructions of the Modern Age at the European level and beyond through the rich information related to the exchanges in banking activity.

Submitter: Italy

The records onthe Criminal Proceedingsof the Vajont dam disaster (1963-1971, with acts from 1900) arean important example of complex documentation used to demonstrate human responsibility in the tragedy surrounding the landslide and flood on 9 October 1963. The disastercausedthe destruction of residential areas and facilities along with the death of 1910 people. The significance of the Vajont event was confirmed in 2008 when the UN classified it as the first of ten disasters caused by human and scientific error in the last 50 years. The fonds is property of the State Archives of L'Aquila and is conserved temporarily in the State Archives of Belluno. It comprises documents of the criminal proceedings from 1963 to 1971: 250 folders of legal acts (including those before 1900), as well as various non-paper materials that are inseparable annexes to the proceedings (rock samples, a model, seismic recordings, negatives and photographic plates, film footage). The Vajont Fonds is widely regarded as a source of study of great international importance, as evidenced by the rich and varied cultural and scientific literature produced in recent decades.

Submitter: Japan

The materials include primary sources that trace the life of the Japanese monk Enchin (814–891), who travelled to China to study Buddhism and seek spiritual enlightenment in the 9th century. The materials also include documentary heritage related to Japan-China cultural exchanges and the deepening significance of Buddhism and Buddhist faith in Japan at that time. The nominated materials are divided into four categories: official documents issued in China that illustrate the Tang legal system; official documents issued in Japan that illustrate the establishment of its own state system; documents that illustrate Buddhist exchanges between Japan and China; and documents that illustrate the practice of “patriarch worship” in Japanese Buddhism. Though the Tang dynasty established a vast empire that greatly impacted the East Asian world, very few of its records have survived to present day. Through the legacy of the monk Enchin, a wealth of historical documents from Japan and China have been preserved in their unaltered, original states, making the nominated materials a rare example not only in the history of religion, but also among archives globally.

Submitter: Kyrgyzstan

The epic "Manas" traditionally delivered in an exclusively oral way and has been recognized as the national pride, identity and historical memory of the Kyrgyz people. The transcription of the epic “Manas”, made from 1922 to 1926, was the first specially planned and organized event in the country. The manuscript consists of 10 handwritten books. In a group of narrators, Sagymbay Orozbakov believed to be the best and identified as the “classical”. His version of the epic is still considered as the fullest and artily valuable. The transcription of the epic was significant and timely because it was the period of transition of the Kyrgyz people from a nomadic way of life to the settled, which posed a threat of disappearance of the oral transmitting of the epic heritage. Therefore, the transcription of the epic to paper was vital and necessary to transmit and to give the second breath of life to it in a book form.

Submitter: Malaysia

Misa Melayu MSS 6 is a narration of the history ofthe ceremonial rules of the Perak Sultanate. It is the forerunner in the authorship tradition of manuscripts in the form of prose and poetry. The manuscript contains depictions of several historical events connected to the Perak society in the 18th century which leaves a profound impact on the art, culture as well as a remarkable thought in the tradition of Malay civilization. The narration was based on Raja Chulan's eyewitness assessment and views on Perak's genealogies, court ceremonials, succession of the throne, Malay customs, and diplomatic relations and trade with the Dutch (Vereenigde Oost-lndische Compagniei -V.O.C).

Submitter: Mongolia

The Stone Inscriptions of Tsogtu Khung-Taiji are regarded as one of the most iconic and important symbols of Mongolian script and literature. The monument consists of three stone inscriptions carved by the same people, in the same year. The inscriptions are amazing not only because oftheir clarity and the beauty of the clean lines of the letters but also how well they have been preserved to this day. The main inscription, dated 1624, is a poem carved on the smooth, vertical rock, which was composed by Prince Tsogtu. This poem is oftenconsidered by scholars to be the finest example of pre-Qing Mongolian poetry composed according to the canons of Buddhist poetry. The importance of the inscriptions is that they stood as a witness to a turbulent and dramatic time in the history of 17th century Mongolia, when Ligdan Khan, the last Great Khan of the Mongols, was desperately struggling to maintain unity among the Mongols as they faced the rising power of the Manchus.

Submitters: Netherlands, Suriname (for Curaçao, Sint Maarten) 

The collection consists of archives located in Suriname, Curaçao, St. Maarten, and the Netherlands. It includes mostly slave, manumission and emancipation registers and civil registry documents of freed slaves. The records shed light on the state of compensation received by plantation owners after the abolition of slavery in the Dutch Caribbean in 1863. More specifically, they show the connections between the Dutch, French and British networks in the Caribbean, which formed part of the global network of slavery and slave trade. The documents provide insight into the ways in which slavery and the legal structure behind it shaped the lives of the enslaved people of the Dutch Caribbean as well as their descendants. It is thereby a unique collection of documents that gives us a better understanding of the mechanics behind one of the darkest periods in human history.

Submitters: Portugal, Spain

The naval expedition that took place between 1519 and 1522, and which was initiated by Ferdinand Magellan and later concluded by Juan Sebastián Elcano, is a milestone in the history of humankind for various reasons. The most evident one is that the men who concluded this journey were the first to make a complete lap around the globe. This voyage had a significant impact in humankind’s general knowledge, as it made it possible to grasp the vastness of South America and how wide the Pacific Ocean is, all of which paved the way to a new and more concrete notion of the Earth’s dimension. The documents show the preparation of the journey, the complementary relationship between the Portuguese and the Spanish, as well as the very first testimonies of these discoveries. In the aftermath of this journey, the theories espousing that the planet’s surface was mostly covered by land were overcome by what was then unveiled: the planet was in fact blue, with masses of land locked by a great ocean.

Submitter: Republic of Korea 

The Archives of the April 19 Revolution refers to an extensive collection of documentary materials about the student-initiated, pro-democracy movement that erupted in the spring of 1960 in the Republic of Korea. The materials cover the backgrounds and developments of the revolution leading to the downfall of authoritarian President Syngman Rhee (In office 1948-1960) –from a student rally in the provincial city of Daegu on February 28 to large-scale demonstrations in Seoul on April 19 to oppose the rigging of the March 15 presidential election –as well as post-revolution, fact-finding efforts, punishments of those who were accountable and reparations for victims. The April 19 Revolution, initiated by high school students and joined by other students and adults, from 10-year-olds to those in their seventies, preceded postwar student activism, including the revolution of 1968 in Europe, the antiwar protests in the United States, and the student movement in Japan.

Submitter: Republic of Korea 

The nominated heritage is a collection of 185 documents associated with the Donghak Peasant Movement. The Donghak movement was a popular uprising against both corruption in the ruling class and encroachment on Korea by foreign powers, demanding the establishment of a more just and equal society. Over the course of the movement, the Donghak army succeeded in establishing a cooperative governing unit known as a jipgangso through which corrupt officials could be punished and unfair government practices rectified. This unit of governance was a novel experiment in democracy with parallels rarely found anywhere in the world at the time. The Donghak movement paved the way for Korea to develop into a flourishing democracy. The nominated documents serve as a reservoir of memories testifying to the historical processes through which the public acted as a protagonist in history and impelled the course of events toward the achievement of universal values.

Submitter: Russian Federation

Sixteen handwritings of F.M. Dostoevsky have been presented for the consideration of UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme Committee. In 2021 the whole world celebrates 200 years since the birth of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821–1881). F.M. Dostoevsky is a great Russian writer, whose works organically combine the realistic picture of social contrasts and a search for public and human harmony, subtle psychology, and humanism. It is difficult to overestimate the influence of F.M. Dostoevsky’s works on the whole world culture. The handwritings and notes of Dostoevsky are the most important source for researching his biography, philosophy, creation process, the history of his works, his contribution as an editor and essayist. The handwritings and notes contain plans and drafts of the novels Crime and Punishment (1865–1866), The Idiot (1860s –1868), Demons (1869–1872), The Adolescent (1874–1975), outlines of uncompleted works, journalistic and literary criticism articles, materials related to The Diary of a Writer, draft letters, diary notes, money calculations, personal notes, including those concerning his epileptic seizures, and drawings. All together, they are invaluable information about the life and work of the world famous writer enabling to reconstruct the creation process of his works and analyze the psychology of creativity.

Submitter: Saudi Arabia

Jabal Ikmah epigraphs and petroglyphs represent the largest concentration of well-preserved Dadaniticinscriptions in the world, dated back to the second half of the first millennium BCE. Inscribed in an impressive sandstone canyon in Saudi Arabia's AlUla County, the collection features nearly 300 valuable inscriptions created by the ancient Dadanite and Lihyanite civilizations, reflecting a variety of themes such as society, religion, rituals, agriculture, and memorials. As writing is a vital milestone in the development of mankind, marking the transition from pre-history to history, the significance of Jabal Ikmah’s inscriptions transcends its national and regional boundaries to the level of global importance. In particular to the evolution of languages and alphabets, Jabal Ikmah inscriptions played a crucial role in the development process of Old Arabiclanguages and dialects, during first millennium BCE. Its authenticity and integrity, both from the point of view of the information that the epigraphs and petroglyphs, preserve and convey about the societies of the last millennium before the common era, as well as the nature of the manifestations and the state of conservation of the site.

Submitter: Spain

The Royal Philanthropic Vaccine Expedition was a project of the Enlightenment,and its resulting documentation endorses the Enlightenment principles: the public good, the economic transformation and progress, advancements in science, research and practical application of knowledge, and philanthropy. This venture was a scientific expedition. The documentation shows the organizational capacity of the Administration to fight against smallpox, as well as to protect an important part of the population that lived in Spain, Central and South America, Texas (United States of America), the Philippines, and the Pacific, Macau (Portugal) and Guangzhou (China). These documents prove that the Expedition of the smallpox vaccine to America must be placed into the context of the European scientific progress.

Submitter: Spain

The Simón Ruiz Archive is the only case of a documentary collection of a Spanish merchant-banker from the 16th century that has survived to the present day, which makes it an essential reference in all studies on world trade for that period, given that at that time the Spanish Monarchy was one of the great economic powers of the world. Many of the major events are mentioned or referred to, at greater or lesser extent, in the documentation of this archive and, likewise, many of the leading figures of commerce and finance of the time are quoted in it. Its commercial collections consist of 184 account books, more than 58,000 commercial letters delivered to hundreds of cities –mainly in Europe and the New World –28,000 bills of exchange sent to 45 European financial centres, 200 listini or listings with international currency exchange rates, etc.

Submitter: Sri Lanka

One of the world's longest unbroken historical accounts, the Mahavamsa is the first of its kind in South Asia, initiating a mature historiographic tradition, presenting Sri Lanka’s history in a chronological order from the 6th century BCE. The authenticity of the facts provided in the document has been confirmed through archaeological research conducted in Sri Lanka and India. It is an important historical source in South Asia containing crucial information about lifetime of the Buddha, the Emperor Asoka and the rise of Buddhism as a world religion. The document played a significant role in popularizing Buddhism in Southeast Asia and contributed singularly to the identity of Emperor Asoka in the Indian history. Existence of number of manuscripts of Mahavamsa in several countries as well as the transliteration and translation of the text to several Southeast Asian and European languages stand testimony to its immense historical, cultural, literal, linguistic and scholarly values.

Submitter: Sweden

On 2 December 1766, the world’s first government-sponsored declaration of freedom of the press saw the light of day in Sweden, which at that time also comprised Finland. For the first time the importance of freedom of expression, its compass and confines, was acknowledged in constitutional law. The importance of the law is demonstrated in the flood of political pamphlets championing extended civil rights that were published in the years that followed. This collection includes two equally important parts: 1) the minutes and preparatory documents that explain the creation of the law, 2) the political pamphlets that illustrate its immediate and radical effect. Together they bear testimony to how defining moments in the coming of the open and democratic society can be the produce of quiet and diligent labour rather than of grand gestures. This nomination illustrates the exemplary and prudent first implementation of the most fundamental of human rights.

Submitter: Switzerland

The collection consists of the two Heidi-and Johanna Spyri Archives located in Zurich with their incomparable and valuable collections and documents. For more than a century, Johanna Spyri’s Heidi novels, first published in 1880 and 1881, have made an incredible journey throughout the world in the last 140 years. They are among the most widely read, translated and adapted literary classics. The impact the books had and still have on children’s literature and culture and on popular media worldwide is paramount, but they have also become an important element of everyday culture including practices of experiencing nature in the mountains as well as literary tourism. Most importantly, there is no fixed meaning attributed to Heidi, but a variety of different meanings, changing and evolving through history. Heidi can be read as the ideal romantic child, but also, in a more contemporary way,as a mediator between urban and rural life or even between the human and the non-human.

Submitter: Thailand

The manuscripts narrate the tale of the Buddha's breast bones brought from India for enshrinement at Phrathat Phanom, vibrantly recognized since antiquity until today as most sacred Buddhist centre in the Mekong region. The collection comprises 10 different versions. They are of different length, inscribed for different purposes by different personalities, at different time in history, covering different timespans. The manuscripts are representative of the countless diverse palm-leaf manuscripts depicting the same story, kept in varying conditions at multiple villages, towns, and temples in many parts of the Northeast of Thailand and in the Mid-Mekong region. Popularly copied and widely transmitted for merit-making, they are cherished as sacred Buddhist literature, forming a strong basis for the collective multi-generational memories about the coming of Buddhism into the Mekong Basins, amalgamating with local beliefs, and flourished over millennia.

Submitter: Tunisia

Baron Rodolphe d’Erlanger (1872-1932) was the first Orientalist to settle in an Arab country (Tunisia) and surround himself with music scholars and performers in order to set about an unprecedented cultural and civilizational project that aimed to regenerate and promote Arab music. The paper archives carrying his name, which represent the scholarly and musical output of this first “musicological research centre” and of the pioneers of musicology, are a mine of information, with music transcriptions and work on lost or now unfamiliar musical traditions: the Hebrew cantillations of the Jews of Tunisia, the music of Tunisia’s black community, the music of the Arab-Andalusian tradition, ritual music, Tuareg chants, horse-riding songs, street cries, Tripolitanian airs, Arabian airs, etc. These documents offer the world in general and researchers across the globe a wealth of varied and original material.

Submitter: Turkmenistan

The collection of poems of the great Turkmen poet Magtymguly Fragi (or his literary nicknameFraga), includes preserved manuscripts of his works spread on the territory of Turkmenistan during the 18th-19th centuries. It is a rare example of the oral and written heritage of the Turkmen people and the peoples of the entire Turkic-speaking world, since they embody the traditions of the oral poetry of the Turkmen people and the literatures of Central Asia and Europe. His poems sound like a hymn to humanism, patriotism, unity, and cohesion, they have become a reference point and a model for scientists and poets of many countries. The collection consists of more than 80 divans copied from the original manuscripts of Magtymguly by his close relatives, fellow villagers, poets, scientists, as well as folk singers (bahshi). There are also copies of the poet's handwritten works, now stored in the fonds ofTashkent, St. Petersburg, London, Budapest, Istanbul, some of which date back to the 18th century.

Submitter: Uzbekistan

The Qushbegi Chancellery (administration) of the Bukhara Emirate is a collection of the largest archives of Central Asian rulers in Bukhara. It reflects historical events during the period of more than 200 years in the territory of modern Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and partly Afghanistan. It also provides substantive information about diplomatic relations of the Bukhara Emirate with Russia, Great Britain, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Japan, and United States of America as well as with Khiva and the Kokand khanates in Central Asia. Currently stored in the Central State Archive of the Republic of Uzbekistan (reference number: I-126), all documents in this collection are proved to be original and authentic. The collection consists of nearly 9,5 thousand folders (about 200 thousand separate ones) written in several languages, such as Arabic, Persian, Uzbek Chagatai, Russian and others.

Submitter: World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) 

This documentary heritage consists of the records of an event of great significance for Deaf communities in many countries. The 2nd International Congress on Education of the Deaf (ICED) in Milan, Italy, in 1880, is seen as a watershed event in Deaf history. Among its resolutions was, ‘That the Oral method ought to be preferred to that of signs for the education and instruction of the deafand dumb.’ The resolutions of this Congress impacted negatively on deaf people’s access to language and education in many countries, excluded deaf teachers from the profession, and contributed to the widespread devaluing of signed languages. The Congress in Milan has ongoing symbolic significance in international Deaf history. This submission nominates three original reports of the Milan Congress, in English, French and Italian. All were published soon after the Congress and are considered to be authentic records of the event. They reflect some of the emerging social and cultural movements of their time, such as the rise of social and linguistic Darwinism. The resolutions taken at Milan were eventually rejected by ICED in 2010.