Intangible heritage in the spotlight: preselection Unesco list announced

Tonight, the Culture Council will announce in an advisory which intangible heritage is likely to be included in UNESCO's ‘Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’. It involves a broad palette of five so-called ‘heritage elements’ practised in the Netherlands. It is up to the new Minister of Education, Culture and Science Rianne Letschert to decide on the nomination for nomination at UNESCO in 2027. The council made the preselection at the request of her predecessor in office.

Intangible heritage is living heritage. It is practised, secured and cherished by people and continues to evolve with the times. Inclusion on UNESCO's ‘Representative List of the Cultural Intangible Heritage of Humanity’ provides an important form of recognition and therefore safeguarding. For the 2027 nomination round, the council selected five very different but all equally promising heritage elements, ranging from festivities to crafts and living cultures.

They are, in alphabetical order:

• The commemoration and celebration of Leidens Ontzet 1574 (Image: The Beggars' Entry 2025. Photo: Andor Kranenburg / 3 October Vereeniging).

• Hedge braiding (Image: Hedge weavers braiding in 2008. Photo: Heg and Landscape Foundation).

• The Fanfare Orchestra (Image: Youth Fanfare Orchestra Concordia. Photo: Sebastiaan Koning)

• Pride Amsterdam (Image: Pride Walk Amsterdam 2018. Photo: Pride Amsterdam)

• Gypsy culture (Image: Togetherness. Photo: Vereniging Behoud Woonwagencultuur Nederland)

How it works

People decide for themselves whether something belongs to their intangible heritage and whether they want to register it for the ‘Inventory of Intangible Heritage Netherlands’. Only heritage included in this inventory was allowed to be considered by the council. Moreover, the heritage practitioners themselves had to indicate that they wanted to be nominated. It is further necessary that they are well organised and are willing and able to actively contribute to the possible compilation of a nomination dossier.

To find out, the Kenniscentrum Immaterieel Erfgoed Nederland (KIEN) issued a call for tenders to all heritage practitioners in the inventory. Based on this, 32 candidates were submitted to the council. For the selection, the council used the criteria from the UNESCO Convention, some conditions set by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and its own considerations.

Those heritage elements preselected by the council that the minister ultimately does not nominate to UNESCO cannot derive any rights from the council's advice in a subsequent nomination round. The rule here is: new round, new opportunities - for everyone.

The treaty

UNESCO's Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage exists since 2003 and aims to protect, develop and pass on to future generations worldwide customs, rituals, traditions, social practices, crafts and other forms of intangible heritage. All states that have ratified the convention are required to participate in it. The Kingdom of the Netherlands has been a party to the convention since 2012.

Earlier, from the European part of our Kingdom, five heritage elements were successfully nominated for international recognition: the craft of miller (2017); corso culture (2021); falconry (2021); the summer carnival in Rotterdam (2023); and traditional grassland irrigation (2023).

Expert Committee

A temporary committee of experts prepared the council opinion: Sophie Elpers (chair), Peggy Brandon, Hester Dibbits, Nicole van Dijk, Felix Havenith and John Olivieira-Siere, also a councillor.