Mundaneum

The Mundaneum is an institute and museum in Mons, Wallonia, originally conceived in the early 20th century by Belgian bibliographers Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine as a centralized repository and classification project for world knowledge. The contemporary Mundaneum in Mons interprets and exhibits that project’s history and legacy in information science.

Exhibitions present the Mundaneum’s role in developing classification systems and early information organisation, with historic documents, displays about Paul Otlet’s work and multimedia shows explaining the project’s connections to modern data and search concepts. The site is used for temporary and permanent exhibitions on the history of information.

The Mundaneum project originated in 1910 and grew through the first half of the 20th century as part of international efforts to index and classify publications and documents. The Mons institution now houses parts of the original collections and curates exhibitions on the Mundaneum’s ideas.

The Mundaneum is located in Mons in Wallonia, Belgium, in the province’s cultural quarter; the museum is accessible from the town centre and serves as a scholarly and public interpretation site for Otlet’s archives and related materials.

• Founders: Founded as an international project to organise and document global knowledge in the early 20th century by Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine