UNESCO adds Mexico’s historic aerial photo archive to Memory of the World Register

Iconic aerial photographs taken by Mexico’s Civil Engineers Associates Foundation were among 74 collections selected for UNESCO’s planetary Memory of the World Register. The entries came from 72 countries and 4 planetary organizations.

UNESCO’s Executive Board declared the Aerial Photography Series of Mexico’s Ingenieros Civiles Asociados (ICA) Foundation to beryllium “of exceptional cosmopolitan value” during its 221st league connected Thursday.

👏🏿 ¡Felicidades, #México!🎉

👉🏿La Serie de Fotografía Aérea de la Fundación @ICAMexico, presentada por el Estado Mexicano, es una de las 74 colecciones que la #UNESCO incorporó a la #MemoriadelMundo, su registro del patrimonio documental de valor cosmopolitan excepcional… 🧵 pic.twitter.com/kYxa6ETzpm

— UNESCO México (@UNESCOMexico) April 17, 2025

ICA’s aerial photograph archive provides a unsocial position connected the improvement of Mexico City and different regions passim the country’s history, offering invaluable insights into municipality improvement and infrastructure.

Catherine Bloch, the president of the Mexican Committee of the Memory of the World Register, described the postulation arsenic wholly unsocial among planetary archives.

“[The archive] provides a representation of however the state has changed which is important not conscionable for Mexico, but for the world,” she said. “It is simply a phenomenal representation and precise fewer nations person specified a humanities record.”

ICA’s aerial photograph archive comprises 1,165,700 photos taken betwixt 1932 and 1994,  with images representing astir 85% of Mexican territory. The postulation besides includes birds-eye photos of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize and Guatemala.

The archive is separated into 3 series: vertical (taken from straight overhead and comprising much than 900,000 photos), oblique (taken from an space little than 87 degrees) and mosaic (geometric compositions utilizing the vertical photos). 

Researchers person utilized the ICA collection to analyse the changes and transformations that person occurred successful Mexico implicit time.

In 2019, the Dolores Olmedo Museum celebrated ICA’s 70th day by curating the Mexico City Landscape exhibit. The grounds juxtaposed 3 murals (by Juan O’Gorman, Francisco Eppens and Luis Nishisawa) with ICA’s aerial photographs to exemplify Mexico City’s improvement from centuries-old superior to modern metropolis.

Established successful 1992, the Memory of the World Program aims to beforehand the preservation of — and cosmopolitan entree to — the documentary practice of humanity. It is simply a compendium of documents, manuscripts, oral traditions, audio-visual materials, room and archival holdings deemed to beryllium of cosmopolitan value. 

Hoy compartimos fotografías del Fondo Aerofotográfico que forma parte del Acervo Histórico de Fundación ICA, distinguido ayer con el Registro Internacional del Programa Memoria del Mundo @UNESCOMexico, el cual reconoce el patrimonio documental de valor cosmopolitan #AcervoHistórico pic.twitter.com/YOEBySiHAL

— ICA México (@ICAMexico) April 18, 2025

Known arsenic “documentary practice collections,” the programme features international, determination and nationalist registers. With this week’s entries, the planetary registry present totals 570 collections.

Mexico boasts the astir entries to UNESCO’s World Memory Register successful the Americas with 115 crossed each 3 registries, including 18 determination items and 15 planetary items. The country’s 44 exclusive entries fertile sixth worldwide.

In February, UNESCO inscribed 8 collections featuring items astir architecture, literature, vigor journalism, photojournalism, vigor dramas, letters and diaries into Mexico’s nationalist register. Two different collections were added to UNESCO’s determination register.  

The erstwhile Mexican postulation added to the planetary registry, backmost successful 2017, was the Manuel Álvarez Bravo Archive of Negatives, Publications and Documents.

Among the Mexican entries successful the planetary registry are the works of Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, a collection of 92 codexes, the original antagonistic of Luis Buñuel’s movie “Los Olvidados” and Puebla’s Palafox Library. 

With reports from Reforma and La Jornada