A collection of woodblocks printed with Buddhist Sutras was officially listed as world heritage by UNESCO on May 16.

The collection of valuable woodblocks was made in the early 14thcentury by monks at the Vinh Nghiem Pagoda in the northern provinceof Bac Giang.

The blocks tell a history of woodblockcarving in Vietnam and provide insights into the skilled work of thepagoda's eminent monks.

The collection of more than 3,000woodblocks provides a wide range of information on the formation,development and ideology of Truc Lam Zen Buddhism, founded by King TranNhan Tong in the 11th century.

A UNESCO official visitedVinh Nghiem Pagoda and worked with provincial authorities in March towork on the artefacts listing as ‘world documentary heritage'.

During the surveys, researchers noted that these woodblocks were carvedby artisans in Bac Giang, Bac Ninh and Hai Duong provinces duringdifferent periods. They were made of thi wood taken from the pagoda'sgarden.

This type of wood is soft, smooth, durable andeasy to carve and it rarely distorts or cracks. The woodblocks werecarved in Han Chinese or Nom scripts, using a very difficult andsophisticated technique.

The quality of the craftsmanshipof each woodblock reflects that the artisans were not only excellentcarvers but also skilled in arranging the documents and fluent in hanChinese and Nom scripts.

The size of the woodblocks variesdepending on the categories of the sutras. The biggest woodblock isover 1m in length and 40-50cm in width. The smallest one is only 15 by20cm. The surface of the woodblocks has a shiny black colour, due toleftover printing ink.

The UN culture agency launched theMemory of the World Programme in 1992 to guard against collectiveamnesia and to call upon the preservation of valuable archives andlibrary collections all over the world to ensure their widerdissemination./.