What is ICH

Intangible cultural heritage must be recognised as such by the communities, groups or individuals who create, maintain and transmit it – without this recognition, no one can decide that a particular expression or practice constitutes their heritage.

Intangible cultural heritage includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as:

a) Oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vector of intangible cultural heritage;

b) Performing arts;

c) Social practices, rituals and festive events;

d) Knowledge and practices related to nature and the universe;

e) Skills linked to traditional crafts.

“Safeguarding” refers to the adoption of measures aimed at ensuring the viability of intangible cultural heritage, including identification, documentation, research, preservation, protection, promotion, enhancement, transmission, essentially through formal and non-formal education, as well as the revitalization of the different aspects of that heritage.

O PATRIMÓNIO CULTURAL IMATERIAL É:

Traditional, contemporary and living: intangible cultural heritage represents not only traditions inherited from the past, but also contemporary rural and urban practices in which different cultural groups participate;

Inclusive: we can share expressions of intangible cultural heritage that are similar to those practiced by others, that have been passed down from generation to generation, that have evolved in response to the environment and that contribute to instilling in us a sense of identity and continuity, constituting a link from the past, through the present, to our future;

Representative: intangible cultural heritage thrives on the basis of communities and depends on holders and practitioners whose knowledge of traditions, know-how and practices are passed on to the rest of the community, from generation to generation, or to other communities;

Community-based: intangible cultural heritage must be recognised as such by the communities, groups or individuals who create, maintain and transmit it – without this recognition, no one can decide that a particular expression or practice constitutes their heritage.

Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

On 17 October 2003, the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was adopted during the 32nd General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This Convention entered into force on 20 April 2006, three months after the date of deposit with the Director-General of UNESCO of the 30th instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

The 2003 Convention has several objectives:

a) Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage;

b) Respect for the intangible cultural heritage of communities, groups and individuals;

c) Raising awareness, at local, national and international levels, of the importance of intangible cultural heritage and its mutual recognition;

d) International cooperation and assistance, within the framework of an increasingly globalized world that threatens to standardize cultures while simultaneously increasing social inequalities.

Establishing itself as an instrument to promote intangible cultural heritage, the main generator of cultural diversity and guarantor of sustainable development, the 2003 Convention aims to fill a gap in the legal system for the international protection of cultural heritage, whose instruments, until now, did not consider intangible cultural heritage, but only tangible, movable and immovable cultural heritage, meaning that intangible cultural expressions could not be safeguarded through the international legal instruments that existed at the time.

According to the Convention, intangible cultural heritage is considered to be "(...) the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated with them – that communities, groups and, where appropriate, individuals recognise as an integral part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups according to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, instilling in them a sense of identity and continuity, thus contributing to the promotion of respect for cultural diversity and human creativity» (Article 2). It is therefore this intangible cultural heritage that the 2003 Convention intends to safeguard, providing, among other measures, that each State Party draws up inventories of this heritage.

Portugal has 8 cultural elements registered on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity:

The Manufacture of cowbells and the Manufacture of black pottery of Bisalhães are included in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in Need of Urgent Safeguarding since 2015 and 2016 respectively.

See here the Lists of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

To find out more:

-> Consult the Operational Guidelines of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2022 version) here.

-> Site da UNESCO.

Source:

National Commission for UNESCO – Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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