Unesco: Memory of the World
The City of Montpellier, the University of Montpellier and the Department of Hérault wish to register the archives and library linked to medical teaching with Unesco's Memory of the World program. And for good reason, Montpellier has been marked by the practice and teaching of medicine for over 800 years.
In the area, medicine is not just a purely technical science, but takes a holistic approach to the patient. Medical education takes on a multidisciplinary dimension, enabling understanding beyond symptoms. This is how the arts, philosophy, theology, geography... were taught to future doctors trained in Montpellier.
Unesco candidacy
The application will be submitted to the Unesco National Committee in autumn 2025. If selected, the application will be presented to the international institution by the French State. The documentary collections of medical teaching in Montpellier could thus be registered with Unesco during 2026.
To accompany this candidacy, cultural initiatives (exhibitions, publications, visits...) designed to encourage the discovery of this history will be deployed throughout 2025.
The candidacy includes the presentation of the library and ancient archives linked to medical teaching in Montpellier.
Among the 16.000 works preserved in the ancient library:
- The chansonnier de Montpellier dating from the 13th century,
- Chirurgia by Abû al-Qâsim al-Zahrâwi known as Albucasis from the 14th century,
- La grande chirurgie by Gui de Chauliac from the 15th century,
- L'histoire générale des insectes de Surinam by Marie Sybille de Mérian published in 1771.
As for old archives, they are stored at the University of Montpellier, the departmental archives and the Montpellier archives. Among them:
- Pope Nicholas IV's bull creating the Studium général de Montpellier in 1289 (Archives de Montpellier),
- University privileges and statutes from the 15th to 17th centuries (Université de Montpellier),
- Student diplomas (Archives de Montpellier and Archives départementales).
Nearly 500 collections are listed on the Memory of the World register, of which some 20 are French: the Lumière films (2005), the humanist library of Sélestat (2011), the archives of Louis Pasteur (2015), the archives of Père Castor (2017), the Angers Apocalypse hanging (2023)....