Inauguration of Exhibition Revitalizing the Spirit of San Francisco

Secretary-General António Guterres (left) greets Philemon Yang, President of the seventy-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly, as they attend the exhibition, "Revitalizing the Spirit of San Francisco" at UN Headquarters.

The UN Charter "is more than parchment and ink; it is a promise — of peace, dignity and cooperation among nations," said the Secretary-General, and continued: "Eighty years is a blink of an eye in history. And yet, until the United Nations, humanity never had a single place where every government and all peoples could unite to fix the world and build something better. The UN is a living miracle — and the women and men of the United Nations bring this miracle to life every day and everywhere."

As part of a series of commemorative events by the UN General Assembly to mark the 80th anniversary of the United Nations, the original UN Charter — on loan from the National Archives and Records Administration of the United States — is now at the UN Headquarters in New York and will remain until the end of September 2025. Signed in San Francisco on 26 June 1945, the UN Charter outlines the structure, functions, and principles of the United Nations, including the UN General Assembly, the UN Security Council and other organs.