Nguyen Dynasty’s Woodblock is a special type of record regarding its form, content and creating method. It’s the original of famous historical and literature works of Vietnam compiled and engraved in Nguyen Dynasty. The woodblocks were created by carving Han Nom (Sino-Vietnamese) characters in reverse on to a board of wood as a popular method of printing texts in feudal time.
Woodblocks are board of wood carved with Han Nom (Sino-Vietnamese) characters as a popular method of printing in Vietnam in the feudal time
The collection of Nguyen Dynasty’s woodblocks in the National Archives Center No. 4 includes 34,619 boards divided into more than 100 book sets of various topics, such as history, geography, socio-politics, military affair, legislation, education, literature, etc. This is an original and reliable historical source to research and compare when studying Vietnamese history.
The collection was inscribed in the International Register of the UNESCO Memory of the World Program on July 31, 2009 for its unique content and art of craft, becoming the first World Documentary Heritage of Vietnam.
