La UNESCO declara la trashumancia y la técnica del vidrio soplado Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial de la Humanidad

Spain led the international candidacy for transhumance, of which 10 European countries are now part

The transhumance and the technique of blown glass in Spain are, from today, Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This has been decided by the UNESCO committee meeting this week in Kasene (Botswana).

The international candidacy for transhumance, led by Spain, recognizes this type of grazing also in Albania, Andorra, Croatia, France, Luxembourg and Romania and thus adds to the recognition that it already enjoyed in Austria, Greece and Italy.

In particular, Spain has 125,000 kilometers of livestock roads that cover the entire peninsular territory and the islands, which show that transhumance is a widespread practice in all the autonomous communities. Today, the seasonal displacement of herds remains a living heritage that has originated a rich cultural and ethnographic heritage, reflected in festivals and traditions, in toponymy, gastronomy and architecture related to this activity.

Also the manifestations of oral tradition, crafts and traditional grazing techniques, as well as the management of pastures within the framework of customary law, are elements that transhumant culture helped transmit as it passed through the different and distant peninsular territories.

On the other hand, the technique of blown glass in Spain has been inscribed in the List of Representative Manifestations of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO as part of the international candidacy shared with Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany and Hungary, which recognizes the knowledge, artisanal techniques and skills in the manufacture of glass.

In particular, the technique of blown glass is a knowledge linked to Spanish culture, with large production centers of more than three centuries of validity, such as the National Center of the Glass of the Farm in Segovia or the Gordiola Glasses in Mallorca.

In addition, about 140 workshops of artisans and artists throughout the territory and, sometimes, linked to museums, seek to revitalize and give visibility to productions characteristic of centers already extinct. This generates a great variety of production that combines the maintenance of historical models with new designs and a wide typology.

The processes of the blown glass technique, its knowledge, products, instruments and associated machinery, as well as architectural spaces present a set of historical, immaterial, technological and artistic values that deserve to be preserved.

21 manifestations of intangible heritage

With these inscriptions, Spain already has twenty-one cultural manifestations declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

In addition, it has four examples included in the Register of Good Practices for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, an instrument that recognizes outstanding experiences in programs, projects and activities for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in order to be able to transmit them to other countries.

Next year it is expected that the ‘Asturian Cider Culture’ candidacy will be evaluated by UNESCO; as well as the extension for the autonomous communities of Madrid, Canary Islands and Murcia of ‘The art of dry stone’, declared in 2018 Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Spain, candidate for UNESCO committee member

At the next General Assembly of UNESCO States Parties, which will take place in mid-2024, the countries that will be part of the evaluation committee of the candidacies of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity will be decided. Spain aspires to be part of this committee, of which it was a member from 2009 to 2013, and to be an active part in decision-making in the field of intangible cultural heritage, in whose management it is a reference country.

In addition to the large number of representative events that Spain registers on the UNESCO list, it is a country with a strong involvement in the care and conservation of its intangible cultural heritage, not only through its legislation and strategic plans (Intangible Cultural Heritage Law and National Plan for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage), but also through its activities of dissemination and economic support during the twenty years of validity of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO.

More information about intangible cultural heritage in Spain: https://www.portalinmaterial.cultura.gob.es/portada.html