Intangible cultural heritage — from theory to practice

What we call today intangible heritage it is an effort made by UNESCO since 1952 (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, 2004). This effort has taken the form of international agreements whereby countries, through their representatives and experts, have implemented national heritage policies. These were finalised in 2003 with the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICHC).

In this convention we find the most exhaustive definition, presented in article 2: ‘The intangible cultural heritage means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills—as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith—that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity’ (UNESCO, 2003).

A cultural asset, a cultural custom becomes heritage only if it has a special value for an ethnic group, a population or a community. These values are handed down to the present day and are appreciated by the contemporary population. According to the Burra Charter: ‘Cultural significance means aesthetic, historic, scientific, social or spiritual value for past, present or future generations. Cultural significance is embodied in the place itself, its fabric, setting, use, associations, meanings, records, related places and related objects. Value is both a culturally and historically constructed concept, and heritage is a value-laden concept’ (Harvey, 2001; Pendlebury, 2013). A tangible or intangible element belonging to the culture and civilisation of a community becomes heritage over time if it possesses a wide range of values, values that have accumulated over time, have been passed down to the present day and are equally valuable to the present population. Basically, the term cultural value expresses the reasons why we should consider a cultural asset as a heritage object of special significance (Pereira Roders, 2011).