Memory of the World Programme

In order to fulfill its duty in preservation and increasing awarness of such heritage for the world, United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) initiated the “Memory of the World Programme” in 1992. The objectives for the Programme are as follows:

-To facilitate preservation of Documentary Heritage, by the most appropriate techniques;
-To assist universal access to documentary heritage;
-To increase awareness worldwide of the existence and significance of documentary heritage

Since 1997, many items have been inscribed in the UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register which brings the total number of inscriptions to 193 items from different countries of the world. In a biennial, every country may propose 2 of its items to be inscribed in the UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register

Iranian National Committee of Memory of the World
As a link between UNESCO and Iranian organizations, the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO established National Committee of Memory of the World to design projects for preservation of the documentary heritage of Iran, in cooperation with the related Iranian organizations and institutes.

Viewing the I.R. of Iran’s ancient history and civilization and its impacts in the world, as well as the need for better safeguarding of the scientific, cultural and historical documents in Iran and their registration in the UNESCO World Register, the National Committee of Memory of the World was established.

The Secretariat of the Nat Committee of MOW was established in 2005 at the National Library and Archive of Iran. According to statute, there are 15 members in the Nat Committee of MOW, eight representatives of the related organizations and seven other members from experts and professionals in the field of documentary heritage. The Chairperson of the Committee is president of the National Library and Archive of Iran.

Two years later in 2007, the Nat Committee of MOW formed an assessment group to examine the Iranian documentary heritage, before they are proposed for the Iran Register and for the UNESCO World Register. This resulted in group members’ professional discussions and presentation of their final remarks to the Nat Committee of MOW.

Registration Procedures
For each documentary heritage to be registered in the UNESCO World Register, a questionnaire must be completed by the owner about that item and its file be examined by the assessment group. After the preliminary assessment, the file will be presented to the Nat Committee of MOW, which in turn, may register the item in the Iran’s World Memory Register. Every two years, 2 of the items, already registered in the Iran’s World Memory, will be proposed to Memory of the World Programme through the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO. Later, the two nominated items will be presented to the International Advisory Committee (AIC) and if approved by the UNESCO’s Director General, will later be inscribed as an item of the documentary heritage of the MOW.

Iran’s documentary heritage in the UNESCO World Register
 For the first time, the Nat Committee of MOW introduced two items to the sixth biennial of the Memory of the World Programme in 2005: “Baysanghori Shahnaameh” from Golestan Museum complex and “the Deed for Endowment Rab’-I Rashidi” from Tabriz Central Library. Both of the items were later registered in the UNESCO World Register in August 2007.Also, the “Administrative Documents of Astan-e Quds Razavi in the Safavid Era” from the Organization of Libraries, Museums and Archive of Astan-e Quds Razavi was recently registered in July 2009.

Iran’s Memory Office and the national registered items:
Established in February 2008, this Office aims at collecting the data of every national documentary heritage item in Iran, specially those which require a coordinated safe-guarding measures, either safe-guarded by governmental organizations, or by the individuals. There have been 6 national items, registered as follows:

“the Holy Qurans, written on deer skin”: (safe-guarded by the Organization of Libraries, Museums and Archive of Astan-e Quds Razavi)

Holy Quran, the divine book of the Muslims, is well saved and cherished throughout centuries by people and with the efforts of those who have transcribed the revelations of the Holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). The above documentary heritage: “the Holy Qurans on deer skin” includes eight Qurans in Qufi script, which dates back to 1st to 3rd century Hejra all written on deer skin. This documentary heritage is attributed to Imam Ali (PBUH) and his descendants and is presently safe guarded by the Organization of Libraries, Museums and Archive of Astan-e Quds Razavi in Mashhad. The Holy Qurans were written more than 1200 years ago and this heritage is presentation of the Islamic book-binding, calligraphy and the art of re-writing the Holy Quran.

“Baysanghori Shahnaameh” or Prince Baysanghor’s Book of the Kings:
(safe-guarded by Golestan Museum complex)

This documentary heritage of the classics of the Persian-speaking world includes Shahnameh, the epic work of the prominent figure in Iranian poetry: Abolghasem Mansur-ibn-Hassan Ferdowsi. Shahnameh is on a par with “Iliad” and the “Aeniad” of the Greco-Romano cultural communities. Considering the over-rule of the Arabic language as the language of science and literature in the time the Shahnameh was composed, Ferdowsi used only Persian language and helped to revive and maintain this important world language, spoken today by over 65 million speakers in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan and diaspora communities. The Bayasanghori Shahnameh, rewritten in 1430 Hijra (January 1430 AD) for Prince Bayasanghor, grandson of Tamurlane (1399-1433 H.), has survived and kept under lock and key in the Imperial Library of the Golestan Museum in Tehran. This documentary heritage represents the uniqueness of aesthetic and literary values of the elite rulers of the Timurid Renaissance who dominated Central and Western Asia in 15th Century.

“the Deed for Endowment: Rab’-i Rashidi” the 13th Century manuscript
(safe-guarded by Tabriz Central Library)
                          
700 years ago, Tabriz, a city in northwest of the Iranian capital Tehran, was the capital of Mongol dynasty and a regional intellectual and cultural hub. Khaje Rashid al-Din Fazollah Hamadani, a brilliant doctor and mathematician and the Lord chancellor of Mahmud Ghazan (1295-1304) founded an academic complex known as Rab’-i Rashidi or Suburb of Rashid, including a papermill, library, teaching hospital, orphanage, textile factory,

caravanserai, teacher’s training college that attracted students and thinkers from as far away as China. The purpose of this endowment, or waqf, was to ensure that as many of the scientific treaties authorized by Rashid- al-Din or fell into his possession could be copied as protection against destruction. The documents for the World Register is the Deed for Endowment of the Rab’-i Rashidi and details the justification of the complex, the management system, administration and the budjet of the endowed properties which included land in present-day Afghanistan, Asia Minor, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq and Syria.  The manuscripts were kept in private house in Tabriz until 1969, when the Iranian National Heritage Society bought it and the Society of National Honours of Iran recognized and registered this manuscript as national heritage in 1975.

The original manuscript is kept seale
d in the Central Library in Tabriz, Iran.

“al-Masalek va al-Mamalek”:
(safe-guarded by the National Musuem of Iran)This book of journies entitled: al-Masalek va al-Mamalek is among one of the most important geographical books in 10th Century (4th in lunar Calendar) written by a prominent scholar and pioneer of the Islamic world geography, Ebrahim-Ibn-Mohammad Farsi-Estakhri, who described Islamic territory in his book, explaining the details of cities, distances, routes and roads. He also described the ethnic groups of each region, their religions, professions, trade and life styles, as well as details of the monuments, fire stores, castles and fortresses. There are also several maps in different formats on a special paper named Dowlatabadi. Al-Masalek va al-Mamalek is kept under registered number 3515 in the National Museum of Iran.

 “Administrative Documents of Astan-e Quds Razavi in the Safavid Era”:
(kept by the Organization of Libraries, Museums and Archive of Astan-e Quds Razavi)

This 69,000-page collection of the Astan Quds Razavi, one of the oldest charity organizations in the world, dates from 1589 AD to1735 AD (1000-1148 Lunar calendar) and covers a vast geographical area that includes Iran, especially Khorasan province, and Afghanistan. It contains information on administrative, social, economic, agricultural, religious and other issues that provide the reader with an image of Mashhad and life in the Safavid Era.

“Safineh of Tabriz”:
(safe-guarded by the Libraries, Museum and Archive of Islamic Consultative Assembly)

This documentary heritage is a unique collection of calligraphy and handwriting written in Tabriz from 721 to 723 Lunar Calendar, including 209 books, treatises, quotations and poems by various Persian and Arabic writers and poets. The theme of this collection varies from mathematics, astrology and philiosphy to medicine, history, geography, mystics and literature. The writer of the collection is a scientist and literature scholar who has been active in Iranian-Islamic culture. The works of this collection illustrates science in the Islamic world, symbol of which is Tabriz city in Post-Mongolian era.

The collection is registered under no.14590 in the repository of the Libraries, Museum and
Archive of Islamic Consultative Assembly in Tehran.