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Empowering Universal Access: UNESCO and Khalili Foundation Collaborate to Preserve Documentary Heritage
This new initiative focuses on the digital preservation of documentary heritage inscribed on the Memory of the World (MoW) International Register, ensuring it remains accessible to all, fostering global understanding and appreciation of humanity's shared legacy.
Documentary heritage encompasses manuscripts, maps, rock inscriptions, court documents, diplomatic exchanges and more. Collectively, it chronicles the story of humanity, showcasing the contributions of different cultures to shared advancements, as well as offering present and future generations a snapshot into the past, attesting to how different communities have lived throughout history.
But in the face of various risks to the world’s documentary heritage, stemming from threats such as climate change, armed conflict, inadequate resources for preservation and technological obsolescence, this new project places the as a crucial partner of the MoW Programme to safeguard against collective amnesia.
The new partnership is imperative in supporting the MoW Programme to achieve its objectives of ensuring preservation, enabling universal access, and striving for awareness of the significance of documentary heritage. It also facilitates implementation UNESCO’s standard-setting instrument: the 2015 Recommendation Concerning the Preservation of, and Access to, Documentary Heritage Including in Digital Form.
Additionally, the project aims to plug a gap that pervades throughout digital access to documentary heritage by building a comprehensive database of metadata, contextual information and narrative amplification of the complete MoW International Register in multiple languages, on Wikimedia Foundation platforms.
By enriching the body of information regarding the MoW International Register, as well as by spotlighting lesser-known narratives present on the MoW International Register, UNESCO and the Khalili Foundation seek to encourage further future submission of documentary heritage relating to underrepresented geographical regions such as the Arab Region and Africa, groups—including indigenous peoples—and of socially transformative heritage relating to women and gender empowerment.
Additionally, the project seeks to mainstream awareness of the significance of the world’s documentary heritage and how it relates to our lives, across societies and especially among young people.
This partnership demonstrates the need for a dynamic collaborative approach between public and private actors, presenting unique opportunities to enhancing access to the inscriptions and collections held by memory institutions that may lack the capacity to exhibit the significance of their history on a global stage.
We share UNESCO’s vision for the preservation and accessibility of cultural heritage, and stand by to continue our support in any way we can.
The project complements recent initiatives by the MoW Programme to promote and enhance access to documentary heritage, including underrepresented collections, by leveraging innovative digital tools and storytelling techniques to provide diverse educational resources. These include a partnership with , an e-course for teachers of art, history, language and literature, a first of its kind coffee table book showcasing the Documentary Heritage Treasures of Africa, and the project to preserve documentary heritage in AlUla.
