Paris: Oman receives UNESCO certificate for historic manuscript

The Sultanate of Oman has officially received the certificate of inscription into UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme of the manuscript “Al-Nūniyya Al-Kubrā” by the renowned Omani navigator Ahmed bin Majid.

The presentation took place during a meeting between Amina Albalushi, Oman’s Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, and Dr Tawfik Jelassi, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, at the organisation’s headquarters in Paris, France.

This achievement crowns the efforts of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, in collaboration with the Omani National Commission for Education, Culture, and Science, and the Permanent Delegation to UNESCO, to highlight the manuscript’s historical and scientific value.

Al-Nūniyya Al-Kubrā is considered one of the most significant works in the fields of navigation and maritime sciences.

The manuscript is distinguished by its advanced geographical vision, proposing a novel division of the Earth into fourteen regions encompassing both hemispheres—surpassing the traditional division limited to seven regions in the Northern Hemisphere alone.

It also contains detailed descriptions of the societies encountered by the author and his navigational crew, alongside rich documentation of maritime life, including marine species and natural phenomena.

UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme, launched in 1992, aims to safeguard humanity’s documentary heritage from loss and oblivion. Its selection criteria emphasise authenticity, rarity, historical significance, and cross-border cultural and social impact.