Documentary heritage forms our memory of AlUla
Beyond the towering monumental World Heritage sites are historic epigraphs, petroglyphs, and ancient inscriptions spanning the rocks of AlUla, enabling us to form a memory of the region's past by preserving its rich documentary heritage.
Documentary heritage has a palpable and universal value. It makes up the shared past of our humanity and continues to shape the present. As something that belongs to us all, documentary heritage is a tangible force and resource for intercultural dialogue and global citizenship education.
As such, UNESCO鈥檚 Memory of the World (MoW) Programme works with a range of partners to preserve and protect documentary heritage, ensuring its permanent accessibility and enhancing public awareness of the significance of our shared heritage in Saudi Arabia, across Arab States, and throughout the world.
Preserving and Raising Awareness of Documentary Heritage in AlUla and Saudi Arabia
Established in 1992 amidst growing awareness of the parlous state of preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage across the world, UNESCO鈥檚 MoW Programme has been pivotal for the preservation of documentary heritage of world significance and outstanding universal value, whose record may have otherwise perished.
The programme facilitates the preservation of sites, manuscripts, collections and memories that form our cultural heritage and inform the understanding of our common humanity.
Jabal Ikmah, Abu Ud, Al-Aqra鈥檃 and other regions within AlUla feature rich and unique mountain inscriptions that trace back the origins of the Arabic language and the use of the Arabic alphabet, which has been pivotal in shaping Saudi Arabian and Arab cultures.
MoW Programme
How does the MoW Programme preserve, protect, and make the world's documentary heritage accessible for all?
1. Facilitating preservation
Direct practical assistance or dissemination of advice, information and training, as well as connecting sponsors with timely and appropriate projects particularly in areas affected by conflict or natural disaster.
2. Universal access
Encouraging publication and distribution of digitized products to be accessed in a wide-reaching and equitable manner, while respecting cultural sensitivities and upholding indigenous communities' custodianship and guardianship of documentary heritage material.
3. Increasing awareness
Developing MoW Registers to enhance and promote public awareness of the existence and significance of documentary heritage.
In the Old Town of AlUla, the collective ethos of a neighbourly alliance was built into the very fabric of homes, where the structural side-by-side attachment doubled as a fortification for the city鈥檚 early inhabitants. In the same spirit, UNESCO鈥檚 MoW Programme works with its partners to preserve the world鈥檚 documentary heritage, protecting it through cooperation against destruction, decay or disregard.
In AlUla, the MoW Programme and the RCU鈥檚 shared vision of the potential for documentary heritage to serve as a resource for intercultural dialogue and education has generated momentum and growing awareness in Saudi Arabia, as well as the wider Arab world, regarding the significance of the region鈥檚 documentary heritage. Such partnerships serve as a catalyst for establishing institutional mechanisms positioning the region for long term impact at a global level, enabling the documented Arab cultural and historical legacy to become an integral component of collective human memory.
"This project is an opportunity in the face of risks to the region鈥檚 inscriptions and manuscripts to equip memory institutes with tools for preserving our documentary heritage, to animate the Arab world鈥檚 public awareness of its significance and use it as a force for unity, diversity and intercultural dialogue.鈥
鈥淭his partnership will connect AlUla's past, present and future by harnessing the power of education, science and culture to act as a catalyst for sustainable development model and long-lasting change.鈥
Key facts and figures
Get in touch
Expressions of interest, comments and suggestions are welcome. Please contact mowsecretariat@unesco.org (UNESCO Documentary Heritage Unit, Communication and Information Sector), or our project contacts below.