UNESCO ‘Memory of the World’ title for Buddhist Woodblocks

A grand ceremony will be held on October 7 to pray for national peace and prosperity, and to receive the UNESCO certificate declaring the ancient Buddhist Sutra Woodblocks at the Vinh Nghiem Pagoda in Bac Giang Province as ‘Memory of the World’.
The event aims to honor the collection of valuable woodblocks of an ancient oriental cultural and traditional heritage.
The ancient woodblocks were made in the early 14th century by monks at the Vinh Nghiem Pagoda in the northern province of Bac Giang.
The blocks tell a history of woodblock carvings in Vietnam; the development and ideology of Truc Lam Zen Buddhism-founded by King Tran Nhan Tong in the 11th century; science and technology; literature and the arts; and the philosophy, sociology and linguistics of earlier civilizations.
On the occasion, a historical site relating to the Yen The up-rising (1883-1913) will be recognized as a special national relic.