VietNamNet Bridge – UNESCO has recently released the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, with the inclusion of 90 cultural elements, including Vietnam’s Hue city royal court music and Central Highland gong culture.

Vietnam’s Hue royal court music.

The list, ranging from folk music and shadow puppetry to ox-herding traditions and sand drawings, came into being on Tuesday in Istanbul, Turkey, as part of the efforts to safeguard such cultural elements from around the world. These 90 elements had previously been proclaimed as masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2001, 2003 or 2005.

Twenty-six of these elements are in the Asia Pacific Region, 20 in Europe, 19 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 18 in Africa, and seven in the Arab region. Nine of them are shared by two or more countries.

UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said the List’s inauguration “is bringing to life” the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which was adopted by UNESCO in 2003 and has been ratified by 104 States so far.

Both the List and the Convention aim to protect heritage that includes oral traditions, the performing arts, social practices, craftsmanship and knowledge of nature.

The integration ceremony took place in Istanbul during the session, lasting from the 4th to the 9^th of November, of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the executive body in charge of the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 2003. The Convention has been ratified by 104 States to date.

(Source: ND, UNESCO)