Three Thai documentary heritage items have been inscribed on Unesco’s Memory of the World Register, as part of a new group of 74 entries from around the world announced earlier this year.
The latest additions brings the global total of recognised documentary collections to 570, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said on Thursday.
The Memory of the World programme, established in 1992, aims to preserve documentary heritage of global significance and ensure accessibility.
Often fragile and at risk of deterioration, these records offer insight into the cultural, political and historical development of nations, Unesco said.
Among the newly recognised entries are three Thai submissions.
The first is a collection called “The Birth of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)”.
Jointly submitted by Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, this archive describes the formation of Asean between 1967 and 1976, Unesco said.
This collection includes the original Asean Declaration of 1967, along with text records, photographs, films, audio recordings and oral history interviews.
The documents highlight Asean’s goal of transforming the region from a zone of conflict into one of peace and cooperation.
The archives serve as a basic reference for Asean’s diplomacy, which later became known as the “Asean way”.
The second item is the “Manuscript of Nanthopananthasut Kamlaung”. The 18th-century manuscript is written on 190 pages of khoi paper.
It contains translated and embellished Buddhist literature depicting the Buddha taming Nanthopanantha-naga, a mystical serpent being.
Digitally transcribed and published, it continues to inspire scholars and is celebrated in Buddhist communities globally for its messages of compassion and peace, Unesco said.
The last piece is The King of the White Elephant, a Thai feature film produced in 1940.
This black-and-white English-language film promotes peace at the onset of World War II.
It remains the only surviving Thai film from the pre-war period, combining traditional Thai performance with Western cinematic techniques, offering invaluable insight into early 20th-century Thai filmmaking and diplomacy.
