UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register lists documentary heritage – texts, audio-visual materials, library and archive holdings – that have been judged to be of global importance. The register brings that heritage to the attention of experts and the wider public, promoting the preservation, digitization, and dissemination of those materials.
The first inscriptions were added to the register in 1997. As of 2025, 570 pieces of documentary heritage had been included in the register. Of these, 315 (55%) are nominated or co-nominated by countries in the Europe and North America region. These include recordings of folk music; ancient languages and phonetics; aged remnants of religious and secular manuscripts; collective lifetime works of renowned giants of literature; science and music; copies of landmark motion pictures and short films; and archives documenting significant political, economic, and social changes.
Inscriptions by country/territory
Documentary heritageCountry/TerritoryCustodian(s), Location(s) Yearinscribed Reference Codex Purpureus BeratinusAlbaniaNational Archives of Albania, Tirana 2005Marubi National Museum of Photography: Archive of negatives, objects and documents of the Pietro Marubbi and Kel MarubiAlbaniaMarubi National Museum of Photography, Shkodër2025 Mashtots Matenadaran ancient manuscripts collectionArmeniaMashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, Yerevan 1997First Byurakan Survey (FBS or Markarian survey)ArmeniaByurakan Astrophysical Observatory, Armenian National Academy of Sciences 2011 Collection of note manuscripts and film music of Composer Aram KhachaturianArmeniaHouse-Museum of Aram Khachaturian 2013 Collection of Works of the Composer Komitas VardapetArmeniaKomitas Museum-Institute 2023The Lawcode of Mkhitar GoshArmeniaMesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, Yerevan2025 Vienna DioscuridesAustriaAustrian National Library, Vienna 1997 Final Document of the Congress of Vienna AustriaAustrian State Archives, Vienna 1997 The Historical Collections (1899–1950) of the AustriaAustrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1999 Papyrus Erzherzog RainerAustriaAustrian National Library, Vienna 2001 The Vienna City Library Schubert CollectionAustriaVienna City Library, Vienna 2001 The Atlas Blaeu-Van der Hem of the Austrian National Library AustriaAustrian National Library, Vienna 2003 Brahms Collection AustriaSociety of Friends of Music, Vienna 2005 Collection of Gothic Architectural Drawings AustriaAcademy of Fine Arts, Vienna 2005 The Tabula Peutingeriana AustriaAustrian National Library, Vienna 2007 The Bibliotheca Corviniana Collection Austria,Belgium,France,Germany,Hungary,ItalyNational Széchényi Library Austrian National Library, Vienna Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel Bavarian State Library National Library of France, Paris Koninklijke Bibliotheek Van Belgie 2005 Arnold Schönberg EstateAustriaArnold Schönberg Center Private Foundation 2011 Mainz Psalter at the Austrian National LibraryAustriaAustrian National Library, Vienna 2011 The Documents on the Semmering Railway from the Imperial & Royal Historical Museum of Austrian RailwaysAustriaVienna Technical Museum 2017 Medieval manuscripts on medicine and pharmacy AzerbaijanInstitute of Manuscripts of Azerbaijan, National Academy of Sciences, Baku 2005 The copy of the manuscript of Mahammad Fuzuli's "divan"AzerbaijanInstitute of Manuscripts of Azerbaijan, National Academy of Sciences 2017"Flower Book" of Khurshidbanu Natavan – album of illustrated versesAzerbaijanInstitute of Manuscripts of Azerbaijan, National Academy of Sciences2023 Radziwills’ Archives and Niasvizh (Nieśwież) Library Collection Belarus,Finland,Lithuania,Poland,Russia,UkraineCentral Archives of Historical Records, Warsaw National Historical Archives of Belarus
Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Central Science Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus National Library of Belarus
Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences Science Library of Moscow State University National Library of Finland 2009 Business Archives of the Officina Plantiniana BelgiumMuseum Plantin-Moretus, Antwerp 2001 Archives Insolvente Boedelskamer Antwerpen Belgium, Antwerp 2009 The Archives of the University of Leuven (1425-1797)BelgiumState Archives, Leuven University Archives and Art Collections, KU Leuven 2013 Universal Bibliographic RepertoryBelgiumMundaneum 2013The archives, engravings and manuscripts used by the Bollandists (17th-18th centuries)BelgiumSociety of Bollandists, Brussels2025 Manuscript collection of the Gazi Husrev-beg LibraryBosnia and HerzegovinaGazi Husrev-beg Library 2017 The Sarajevo Haggadah manuscriptBosnia and HerzegovinaNational Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2017 Enina Apostolos, a Cyrillic manuscript fragment of the 11th century in Old Bulgarian languageBulgariaSS. Cyril and Methodius National Library, Sofia 2011 Boril's SynodiconBulgariaSS. Cyril and Methodius National Library, Sofia 2017 Gospels of Tsar Ivan AlexanderBulgaria,United KingdomSS. Cyril and Methodius National Library, Sofia 2017 Hudson's Bay Company Archival records CanadaArchives of Manitoba, Winnipeg 2007 Quebec Seminary Collection, 1623-1800 (17th-19th centuries) CanadaMusée de la civilisation, Quebec City 2007 Neighbours, animated, directed and produced by Norman McLaren in 1952 CanadaNational Film Board of Canada, Montréal 2009 The Discovery of Insulin and its Worldwide ImpactCanadaThomas Fisher Rare Book Library 2013 Marshall McLuhan: The Archives of the FutureCanadaLibrary and Archives Canada Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library 2017 Mixed Traces and Memories of the continents - The Sound of the French people of AmericaCanadaCinémathèque québécoise 2017 Philosophical Nachlass of Ludwig WittgensteinCanada,Austria,Netherlands,United KingdomTrinity College Library, Cambridge Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
Bertrand Russell Archives, McMaster University Library, Hamilton 2017The Children Speak: Forced Assimilation of Indigenous Children through Canadian Residential SchoolsCanadaNational Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, Manitoba2023Providing care in the New World: the Augustinian sisters of Canada, women of heart and commitmentCanadaFiducie du patrimoine culturel des Augustines2023The Notman Photographic Archives: An Exceptional Record of a Nineteenth-Century StudioCanadaMcCord Stewart Museum, Montreal2025John Peters Humphrey - the Archives of an International Human Rights CareerCanadaMcGill University Archives, Quebec2025Archives of the Republic of Dubrovnik (1022-1808)CroatiaDubrovnik Archive2023Short films of the Zagreb School of Animated Films (1956 – 1979)Croatia Zagreb Film, Zagreb Croatian State Archives, Zagreb2025Andrija Štampar’s diaries (1931-1938)CroatiaCroatian State Archives, Zagreb2025 Collection of medieval manuscripts of the Czech Reformation Czech RepublicNational Library of the Czech Republic, Prague 2007 Collection of Russian, Ukrainian and Belorussian émigré periodicals 1918-1945 Czech RepublicNational Library of the Czech Republic, Prague 2007 Collection of 526 prints of university theses from 1637 to 1754Czech RepublicNational Library of the Czech Republic, Prague 2011 Libri Prohibiti: Collection of periodicals of Czech and Slovak Samizdat in the years 1948-1989Czech RepublicLibri Prohibiti Library 2013 Archives of Leoš JanáčekCzech RepublicDepartment of the History of Music, Moravian Museum 2017 Camocio MapsCzech Republic,MaltaFaculty of Science, Charles University, Prague Heritage Malta 2017 The Kynzvart Daguerreotype – The Birth of Modern Visual MediaCzech Republic 2017Moll's collectionCzech RepublicMoravian Library2023The Archives of Antonín DvořákCzech RepublicAntonín Dvořák Museum2023Situation plans of towns and villages of Jewish settlement in the Habsburg EmpireCzech Republic National Archives, Prague
Archdiocese of Olomouc
Kojetín Municipal Cultural Centre, Kojetin2025Collection of cartographic documents by Pavel Josef ŠafaříkCzech RepublicCharles University, Prague2025Drawings and writings of children during wartime in Europe: 1914-1950Czech Republic, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Poland, Spain, Canada , Rouen : multiple locations across Europe2025 The Linné Collection DenmarkDanish National Library of Sciences and Medicine, Copenhagen 1997 Manuscripts and correspondence of Hans Christian AndersenDenmarkRoyal Library, Copenhagen 1997 The Søren Kierkegaard ArchivesDenmarkRoyal Library, Copenhagen 1997 Archives of the Danish overseas trading companies DenmarkDanish National Archives, Copenhagen 1997 El Primer Nueva Coronica y Buen GobiernoDenmarkRoyal Library, Copenhagen 2007 Sound Toll Registers DenmarkDanish National Archives, Copenhagen 2007 MS. GKS 4 2°, vol. I-III, Biblia Latina. Commonly called "the Hamburg Bible", or "the Bible of Bertoldus"DenmarkRoyal Library, Copenhagen 2011 The Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection Denmark,IcelandArnamagnæan Institute, Dept. of Scandinavian Research, University of Copenhagen Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, Reykjavík 2009 The Baltic Way - Human Chain Linking Three States in their Drive for Freedom Estonia,Latvia,LithuaniaNational Archives of Estonia Museum of the Popular Front of Latvia 2009 The A.E. Nordenskiöld Collection FinlandUniversity Library, Helsinki 1997 Archive of the Skolt Sámi village of Suonjel SuenjelFinlandThe Sámi Archives 2015Gustaf Erikson Shipping Company archives in the Åland Islands from the era of the last Windjammers in global trade 1913-1949FinlandProvincial Archives of Åland Åland Maritime Museum Trust 2023Edvard Westermarck’s Archives at Åbo Akademi University LibraryFinlandÅbo Akademi University Library2025 Original Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789–1791) FranceNational Library of France, Paris 2003 Introduction of the decimal metric system, 1790–1837 FranceNational Historical Archives Centre, Paris 2005 Lumière Films France 2005 Bayeux Tapestry FranceBayeux Museum, Bayeux 2007 Library of the Cistercian Abbey of Clairvaux at the time of Pierre de Virey (1472) FranceMédiathèque de l’Agglomération Troyenne Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire de Montpellier National Library of France, Paris Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève Laurentian Library, Florence Université de Mons-Hainaut, Bibliothèque centrale British Library National Széchényi Library, Budapest 2009 The Beatus Rhenanus LibraryFranceHumanist Library, Sélestat 2011 Bannière Register at Chatelet, Paris, during the reign of François I (National Archives Y9, France)FranceNational Historical Archives Centre, Paris 2011 Louis Pasteur's ArchiveFranceNational Library of France, Paris Academy of Sciences 2015 The Mappa mundi of AlbiFranceMédiathèque d'Albi Pierre-Amalric 2015 Humanity's First Recordings of its Own Voice: The Phonautograms of Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (c.1853-1860)France French Academy of Sciences National Industrial Property Institute Bibliothèque de l’Institut de France Société d’encouragement pour l’industrie nationale 2015 The Appeal of 18 June 1940 France,United KingdomInstitut National de l’Audiovisuel British Broadcasting Corporation Sénat, Paris Musée de l’Ordre de la Libération 2005 The moving picture shows of Émile ReynaudFrance,Czech RepublicInstitut national de la propriété industrielle Conservatoire national des Arts et métiers Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée Cinémathèque Française National Technical Museum, Prague 2015 Archives of FranceCommunity of Briance, Sud Haute-Vienne 2017 Shoah by Claude Lanzmann, restored 35 mm negative; Audio Archive Witnesses to the History of Shoah, 200 hoursFrance,GermanyLes films ALEPH SARL, Paris Jewish Museum Berlin 2023Archives of the International Movement ATD Fourth World in France and Burkina Faso from 1957 to 1992FranceCentre Joseph Wresinski, Baillet-en-France