<
 
 
 
 
×
>
You are viewing an archived web page, collected at the request of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) using Archive-It. This page was captured on 03:51:34 Dec 15, 2015, and is part of the UNESCO collection. The information on this web page may be out of date. See All versions of this archived page.
Loading media information hide
 UNESCO.ORG | Education | Natural Sciences | Social & Human Sciences | Culture | Communication & Information

WebWorld

Graphic element

Communication and Information Activities

Graphic element

Memory of the World

UNESCO's programme aiming at preservation and dissemination of valuable archive holdings and library collections worldwide

A pictorial exhibition of items either listed on the Memory of the World Register or chosen from projects, that typify the vast range of carriers that make up the documentary heritage of humanity.
UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme includes precious documentary heritage items that were recorded from the early days of human history up to the present. It includes events that transformed a people or transcended national boundaries. It is recorded on audiotapes, woven into tapestries or handwritten in a diary, keeping alive the histories of unnamed slaves or the discoveries of ancient scholars, who have inhabited all corners of the earth.

Click on any of the images below to start the slideshow:


The Bayeux Tapestry is a historical account, as well as an essential source of information on life in the Middle Ages. This image represents the dead body of King Edward before it be brought to the Abbey of Westminster. © Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux, République française Anne Frank's Diaries. The diaries of Anne Frank are describing her life as an adolescent girl during the 2 years she, with her family, lived in hiding during WWII, before their deportation to the concentration camp in Bergen-Belsen. © AFF Basel, CH / AFS Amsterdam, NL The Radzivill Chronicle. Historical illustration of Prince Andrei's murder by conspirators. © Russian Academy of Science Library Vienna Dioscurides, MS: Cod. med. Graec. 1; Drawing of the cottony blackberry plant with roots, leaves and fruits. © Austrian National Library Woman detained in S21 with her child. Photograph of Chan Kim Srung with her newborn child; she was detained on 14 May 1978 in S-21 prison. © Isabel Gonzalez Rojo Illustrated and Illuminated Persian Manuscripts. The King of Egypt with his entourage welcoming Zulaykha on her arrival to Egypt, 1533. © National Library of Egypt Archives of the Viceroyalty of the rio de la Plata. The archives include colonial documentary collections from the Republics of Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia as well as Peru. © Archivo General de la Nacion Saint Sophia's Church. Four Gospels from the first half of 14th century, beginning of St. Mark's Gospel. © St. Cyrill and St. Methodius National Library Medieval manuscripts on medicine and pharmacy. Al-Maqalatun Salasun (30th Treatise). Manuscript of one of the volumes of the Book on Surgery and Instruments by Abulkasim Zakhravi, the Arabian physician known in medieval Europe as Abulcasis. © Institute of Manuscripts of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Declaration of the Confederation of Warsaw 28 January 1573. Wax seals of the representatives of noble families. The Declaration represents the formal beginning of religious freedom in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. © Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw Battle-scene from the Bayasanghori manuscript of the Shähnämeh. Abolghassem Mansour-ibn-Hassan Firdausi Tousi (Ferdpwso) was a prominent figure in iranian poetry and the nationalist poet of the Persian Empire. His major epic work was the Shähnämeh (Book of Kings). © Golestan Palace 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition. The 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition led New Zealand becoming the first self-governing nation in the world where nearly 32,000 women, almost a quarter of the adult European female population of New Zealand, won the right to vote. © Archives New Zealand/Te Rua Mahara o te Kawanatanga Treaty of Waitangi 1840. The Treaty of Waitangi, the founding document of New Zealand, was signed in the Bay of Islands on 6 February 1840 by Captain William Hobson, several English residents and approximately 45 Maori chiefs. © Archives New Zealand/Te Rua Mahara o te Kawanatanga A.E. Nordenskiöld Collection 1482. Potioris Europae maritime partis descriptio atque delineatio. One of the oldest printed cartographic maps of maritime Europe (1586). © The National Library of Finland Basagic Collection of Islamic Manuscripts. The Basagic Collection contains unique manuscripts works of medieval Islamic scholarly literature. © University Library Bratislava A.E. Nordenskiöld Collection 1482. Mappamundi Cosmographia. Ulm, 1482, map 1. (Claudius Ptolemaeus). One of the oldest printed cartographic atlases of Finland. © The National Library of Finland Archives of the Dutch East Indian Company. Bird's-eye view of the city of Kham Pean Lvek, Cambodia. End 17th - beginning 18th century. © Nationaal Archief, The Hague Archives of the Dutch East Indian Company. Panoramic map of the bay of Nagasaki, Japan, and the trading post Deshima; 19th century. © Nationaal Archief, The Hague Basagic Collection of Islamic Manuscripts. Masariq al-Anwar an-Nabawija min Sihah al-Axbar al-Mustafawija, from 12th to 19th Century. © University Library Bratislava Memory of Russia. Dinner menu for 19th of May: A. Levenson Printing House, 1896. © Russian State Library Archives of the Dutch East Indian Company. Map of the peninsula of Minahassa, Island of Sulawesi, Indonesia (1679). © Nationaal Archief, The Hague Criminal Court Case No. 253/1963 (State Versus N. Mandela and Others). Arrest warrant for Nelson Mandela leading to his imprisonment. © National Archives and Records Service of South Africa Archives of the Dutch East Indian Company. Orange castle on the isle of Ternate in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia, 1651. © Nationaal Archief, The Hague Photo and Film Archives of Palestine Refugees. A Palestine refugee family waits to receive a tent at a UNRWA emergency distribution center after the destruction of their makeshift shelter at Burj el-Shemali refugee camp. © United Nations Relief and Works Agency Photo and Film Archives of Palestine Refugees. Jordan Valley Camp, 1967. Shelter for the refugees and displaced persons set up with the aid of donors. © United Nations Relief and Works Agency Inscription on the stele of King Ram Khamhaeng. King Ram Khamhaeng Inscription (13th Century) records the invention of Thai language scripts that are the foundation of the modern scripts used in Thailand by 60 million people. © The National Museum Bangkok Saint Sophia Church, 1566. Four Gospels (Buhovo Gospels). End of St. Mark's Gospel and the colophon (cryptogram) of the scribe Besarion, St. Luke. © St. Cyrill and St. Methodius National Library John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman Film and Video Collection, 1950-2000. John Marshall relaxing with Ju/'hoan friends in 1955. Marshall immersed himself in Ju/'hoan life, learning to speak the language fluently and participate in rituals. © Smithsonian Institution