Union of Lublin in the UNESCO "Memory of the World" Register
The Union of Lublin Act was included among the objects of documentary heritage, which were entered on the UNESCO's Memory of the World (MoW) Register. The document was submitted for inclusion jointly by five countries – Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus and Latvia. Concluded on July 1, 1569, in Lublin, the Union gave birth to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This is a unique testimony of the state union drafted in early modern times, following negotiations and a bilateral agreement, with the Parliament being actively engaged in the process of negotiation and subsequently in functioning of the Union. As an end result of the multicultural and multinational Jagiellonian’s monarchy and prior Polish-Lithuanian unions, thanks to its bearing, the Union of Lublin contributed to strengthening of civic, republican and democratic tendencies of its times. The only surviving act of the Union is in the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw.
The UNESCO Memory of the World Programme was created in 1992 and its main purpose is to protect documentary heritage from around the world. On the World List of the Program "Memory of the World" there are seventeen objects of documentary heritage submitted by Poland. In 2017, apart from the act of the Union of Lublin, two other Polish documents were entered on the UNESCO’s International List; namely the radio interview from the Battle of Warsaw and Jurgen Stroop's report on the suppression of the Warsaw ghetto uprising.
