Memory of the World

The records that hold the memory of our shared past

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UNESCO Memory of the World

The purpose of the past

Why is documentary heritage worth preserving for the future?

Irreplaceable inscriptions

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Written wonders of the world

Discover inscriptions treasured for their age, beauty and outstanding universal value

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Get lost in pages, pictures and palimpsests

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“History is a cyclic poem written by time upon the memories of man.”– Percy Bysshe Shelley, English Romantic poet
Take a guess...
What did the Edict of Caracalla papyrus declare all free men in the Roman empire?
Citizenship
Constitutio Antoniniana (Emperor Caracalla)

A Golden Letter from Burma to Great Britain

What was the jewel-encrusted message?

The Tábara Beatus

The Beatus are considered the most beautiful and original manuscripts produced by Medieval western civilization.

The Tábara Beatus

The Beatus are important for its role in the transition from the Ancient to Medieval world, its prophetic end of the world content, its inclusion of world maps, and its contemporary artistic inspirations.

Beauty and the Beatus

Drawing the end of the world

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Earth in vivid colour

Marvel at the Landsat Program Records

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A world of stories

Read your way back in time and around the globe

Connecting the Medeival and Ancient Worlds

The production of the Utrecht Psalter was a defining moment in Carolingian culture and forms a crucial link between Late Roman art and its Carolingian translation.

Illustrating Good Behavior

The illustrations reflect the violence and warfare of the time but are meant for moral instruction, apparently for a (future) king.

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Don't miss out on the idiosyncracies of Medeival illustrations

Discover the Utrecht Psalter

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