The Executive Board of UNESCO during its 216th session, held on 10-24 May 2023 at UNESCO headquarters, approved applications for new documentary heritage objects, decisions on which were adopted by the International Advisory Committee for inclusion in the International Memory of the World Register.
On May 24, 2023, the UNESCO Executive Board adopted a unanimous decision to include new documentary collections in the list. Thus, 64 documentary collections have been included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, bringing the total number of included collections to 494.
The register includes a collection of manuscripts by Magtymguly Fragi, submitted by Turkmenistan.
The collection of poems by the great Turkmen poet Magtymguly Fragi includes preserved manuscripts of his works, which spread throughout Turkmenistan in the 18th-19th centuries. This is a rare example of the oral and written heritage of the Turkmen people and the peoples of the entire Turkic-speaking world, the literature of Central Asia and Europe. Magtymguly's poems sound like a hymn to humanism, patriotism, unity and cohesion; they have become a guide for scientists and poets in many countries.
The collection consists of more than 80 divans, copied from the original manuscripts of Magtymguly by his close relatives, fellow villagers, poets, scientists, as well as folk singers - bahshi. There are also copies of the poet's handwritten works, which are now kept in the funds of Tashkent, St. Petersburg, London, Budapest, Istanbul; some of them date back to the 18th century.
The meaning of Magtymguly Fragi's poems, having gone beyond the national framework of time and culture, has become an integral part of world literature.
The Memory of the World Program, established by UNESCO in 1992, aims to prevent the irretrievable loss of documentary heritage - documents or collections of documents of significant and lasting value, whether on paper, audiovisual, digital or any other form. The program aims to preserve this heritage and aims to make it more accessible to the public.
