Presentation of the Certificate for the Radziwills’ Archives and Nesvizh Library Collection inclusion on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register

On 8 December 2009, the National Historical Archives of Belarus was presented with the Certificate for the Radziwills’ Archives and Nesvizh Library Collection inclusion on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. The ceremony took place in the reading room of rare prints and manuscripts at the Central Ya. Kolas Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.

The UNESCO “Memory of the World” Programme was established in 1992. At present, the World Register includes 197 documentary heritage items of world significance and outstanding universal value.

The Radziwills’ Archives and Nesvizh Library Collection was nominated for the UNESCO Register on the initiative of Belarus jointly with Lithuania, Poland, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Finland, the countries which preserve parts of one of the biggest personal archives and library collections in Eastern and Central Europe, which was formed during the 16th -20th centuries.