Iconic aerial photographs taken by Mexico’s Civil Engineers Associates Foundation were among 74 collections selected for UNESCO’s international Memory of the World Register. The entries came from 72 countries and four international organizations.
UNESCO’s Executive Board declared the Aerial Photography Series of Mexico’s Ingenieros Civiles Asociados (ICA) Foundation to be “of exceptional universal value” during its 221st session on 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 universal excepcional… 🧵 pic.twitter.com/kYxa6ETzpm
— UNESCO México (@UNESCOMexico) April 17, 2025
ICA’s aerial photo archive provides a unique perspective on the evolution of Mexico City and other regions throughout the country’s history, offering valuable insights into urban development and infrastructure.
Catherine Bloch, the president of the Mexican Committee of the Memory of the World Register, described the collection as wholly unique among global archives.
“[The archive] provides a map of how the country has changed which is important not just for Mexico, but for the world,” she said. “It is a phenomenal portrait and very few nations have such a historical record.”
ICA’s aerial photo archive comprises 1,165,700 photos taken between 1932 and 1994, with images representing roughly 85% of Mexican territory. The collection also includes birds-eye photos of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize and Guatemala.
The archive is separated into three series: vertical (taken from directly overhead and comprising more than 900,000 photos), oblique (taken from an angle less than 87 degrees) and mosaic (geometric compositions using the vertical photos).
Researchers have used the ICA collection to analyze the changes and transformations that have occurred in Mexico over time.
In 2019, the Dolores Olmedo Museum celebrated ICA’s 70th anniversary by curating the Mexico City Landscape exhibit. The exhibit juxtaposed three murals (by Juan O’Gorman, Francisco Eppens and Luis Nishisawa) with ICA’s aerial photographs to illustrate Mexico City’s evolution from centuries-old capital to modern metropolis.
Established in 1992, the Memory of the World Program aims to promote the preservation of — and universal access to — the documentary heritage of humanity. It is a compendium of documents, manuscripts, oral traditions, audio-visual materials, library and archival holdings deemed to be of universal 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 universal #AcervoHistórico pic.twitter.com/YOEBySiHAL
— ICA México (@ICAMexico) April 18, 2025
Known as “documentary heritage collections,” the program features international, regional and national registers. With this week’s entries, the global register now totals 570 collections.
Mexico boasts the most entries to UNESCO’s World Memory Register in the Americas with 115 across all three registries, including 18 regional items and 15 international items. The country’s 44 exclusive entries rank sixth worldwide.
In February, UNESCO inscribed eight collections featuring items about architecture, literature, radio journalism, photojournalism, radio dramas, letters and diaries into Mexico’s national register. Two other collections were added to UNESCO’s regional register.
The previous Mexican collection added to the international registry, back in 2017, was the Manuel Álvarez Bravo Archive of Negatives, Publications and Documents.
Among the Mexican entries in the international registry are the works of Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, a collection of 92 codexes, the original negative of Luis Buñuel’s film “Los Olvidados” and Puebla’s Palafox Library.
With reports from Reforma and La Jornada
