World Day for Audiovisual Heritage

27 Oct
See, Hear, and Learn

UNESCO has adopted 27 October as the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage to better focus global attention on the issues at stake, in cooperation with the Co-ordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (CCAAA) and other partners. A growing number of archives around the world will be commemorating this Day with activities that highlight the fragility and vulnerability of this heritage, while celebrating the work of the heritage institutions that have helped to protect it.

Audiovisual documents, such as films, radio and television programmes, are our common heritage and contain the primary records of the 20th and 21st centuries. They help to maintain the cultural identity of a people; but countless documentary treasures have disappeared since the invention of image and sound technologies that permit the peoples of the world to better share their experiences, creativity and knowledge.

All of the world's audiovisual heritage is endangered. Nowhere can it be said to be preserved, but through initiatives such as the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage and the Memory of the World Programme, the precious work of preservation professionals is given impetus to manage a range of technical, political, social, financial and other factors that threaten the safeguarding of our heritage.