The collection of composer Hoang Van, preserved in various materials, includes more than 700 musical works composed from 1951 to 2010, paralleling the changes of the country and the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people through many periods.

A symbiosis of European classical music and Vietnamese folk music, his works not only have artistic value, but are also valuable documents for research on Vietnamese culture, society and music history. Rich in musical genres and forms with profound content, the dossier has met many important UNESCO criteria, especially historical significance and global value. Hoang Van's works demonstrate the profound changes in Vietnamese society during this period, especially the role of women and the underprivileged classes.

According to the assessment of the International Advisory Committee of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme, Vietnam's dossier fully meets the international criteria with outstanding values. The collection is well preserved, highly accessible through a multilingual digital platform (https://hoangvan.org), and contributes to the dissemination of Vietnamese cultural values to the international community. The collection is a source of reference material for cultural and social research in a post-colonial context and makes an important contribution to the study of Vietnamese and world music history.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ngô Lê Văn, head of the Vietnamese delegation, emphasised: "The fact that the collection of musician Hoang Van has been recognised by UNESCO is not only a great honour for the composer and his family, but also an affirmation of the place of Vietnamese music in the stream of human intellectual heritage. It is a vivid testimony to the enduring vitality of Vietnamese music, a living memory of a historical period, reflecting in each melody the soul, identity and aspirations of an entire nation".

Head of the Vietnamese Delegation to UNESCO, Ambassador Nguyễn Thị Vân Anh, shared the information: "The Collection is one of 74 entering the Memory of the World Register out of a total of 121 nomination files examined at this session. The dossier was unanimously approved, thanks to the close coordination between many stakeholders, especially the advisory role of Dr Vu Thi Minh Huong, a member of the International Advisory Committee of UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme for 2024-2028."

Ms Lê Thị Hồng Vân, Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Cultural Diplomacy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Secretary-General of the Vietnamese National Commission for UNESCO, said, "The inscription of the Hoàng Vân Composer Collection is a success beyond expectations, the result of close and harmonious coordination between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Vietnamese National Commission for UNESCO and a team of Vietnamese and international experts.

The Composer Hoàng Vân Collection is the 4^th Vietnamese World Documentary Heritage, out of 570 World Documentary Heritages that have been recognized by UNESCO so far. This is also the first documentary heritage about Vietnamese music to be recognized, contributing to enriching the national cultural treasure and human civilization. The recognition is even more meaningful when the revised Law on Cultural Heritage was passed by the Vietnamese National Assembly in 2024 and took effect from July 1, 2025, which for the first time dedicated a chapter to Documentary Heritage, demonstrating the increasingly deep interest of the Vietnamese Government, institutions concerned and the whole society in this field.”

According to Dr. Vũ Thị Minh Hương, Vice President of MOWCAP and expert of the International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World Programme: "The inscription of the Composer Hoang Van Collection will be a wake-up call for the preservation of musical documents not only in Vietnam, but also in the region and the world. It contributes to raising social awareness about the preservation of documents that contribute to enriching the memory of the nation and the world, from individuals, families as well as artists, musicians, painters, writers, poets... This is one of the objectives of UNESCO's "Memory of the World" programme.

Together with the Nguyen Dynasty Woodcuts (2009), the Doctoral Laureate Steles of the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam (2011) and the Imperial Archives of the Nguyen Dynasty (2017), the Composer Hoàng Vân Collection (2025) is the 4th World Documentary Heritage of Vietnam. Together with 7 Asia-Pacific regional documentary heritages, this brings the total number of documentary heritages recognised by UNESCO to 11.

The ceremony to receive the UNESCO Certificate is expected to take place in July 2025, on the occasion of the composer's 95th birthday in Hanoi, Vietnam.

https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/register2025