INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Institutional framework

At the beginning I would like to give a short introduction about institutional framework of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the field of culture, which is highly decentralized.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has two Entities, Republic of Srpska and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of 10 Cantons.

At the state-level Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH has responsibility for coordination of activities of the Entity authorities and defining a strategy at the international level in the field of culture.

State Commission

of Bosnia and Herzegovina for UNESCO

State Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina for

UNESCO has been established as an advisory body to the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina .

Committee for Culture has been established in the frame of the Commission for UNESCO, including experts for intangible cultural heritage.

Commission for UNESCO of BiH adopted the Rulebook of procedures about the process of nominations for inscription of elements on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina has ratified the 2003 Convention on February 2009

The appointed entity experts, in collaboration with non-governmental sector, local communities, experts from museums and academia, made two preliminary lists of intangible cultural heritage, one for Republic of Srpska and one for Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Consolidated entity preliminary lists of intangible cultural heritage make the Preliminary List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This List is open for inscription of new elements

We submitted the first Report on the implementation of the Convention 2003 and on the status of elements inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity at the end of December last year

Zmijanje embroidery The first element of intangible cultural heritage from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zmijanje embroidery, was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2014.

This year, we have sent two nominations for the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage :

The nomination of the Konjic Woodcarving and “Picking the tea herb Iva on Mount Ozren”

The nomination of the Konjic Woodcarving was submitted for inscription on this list in 2014, and this year we submitted additional materials with the nomination document.

Also, two nominations are in process of preparation

Safeguarding measures

Republic of Srpska adopted amendments to the Law on Museum Activities which added the articles relating to the intangible cultural heritage.

The Department for Intangible Cultural Heritage was formed in the Museum of Republic of Srpska

Ministry of Culture of Republic of Srpska formed the Commission for the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Central Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage is established and Rulebook on Keeping the Register is adopted .

Department for Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Museum of Republic of Srpska prepared the Rulebook on the Procedure for Nominating, Determining and Declaring of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Department for Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Museum of RS,

documents all data on intangible cultural heritage of Republic of Srpska.

The access to this information is open to public, and the Preliminary List of

Intangible Cultural Heritage is available on the web sites of the Museum

and the Ministry of Culture of Republic of Srpska.

The schools for transmission of skills, knowledge and mastery of making

Zmijanje embroidery have been organized in two elementary schools

Within the relevant local communities, and based on the Cooperation with

the Museum of RS, Association “Duga” has organized two cycles of the

“School of Zmijanje Embroidery” lasting three months each.

Between 2013 and 2015, the Department for Intangible Cultural Heritage of

the Museum of Republic of Srpska in cooperation with “Posts of Srpska ”

has prepared several series of stamps related to intangible cultural heritage

of Republic of Srpska (old crafts, Zmijanje embroidery, etc.)

Safeguarding measures

In Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina the competent institutions for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage are cantonal Ministries of Culture. Federal Ministry of Culture performs the coordination of activities of cantons.

Within the Institute for Protection of Monuments, which is an organizational unit of the Federal Ministry of Culture, there is a Department of Scientific Research which is engaged in historiographical research, identification, and documentation in order to safeguard the intangible heritage.

In Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the draft version of the revised Law on the Protection and Use of Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Federation of BiH is prepared.

This draft law is harmonized with the provisions of ratified international conventions, including the 2003 Convention.

Safeguarding measures

At the cantonal level, two cantons have Laws on the Protection

of Cultural Heritage harmonized with the provisions of the 2003 Convention; Draft Law is prepared in two Cantons; while other cantonal laws are still to be harmonized with the 2003 Convention.

Cantonal Ministries of Culture are competent in terms of providing a legislative framework, but de facto the institutions carrying out the activities of safeguarding and transmission of intangible cultural heritage are museums, public cultural institutions and NGOs – traditional folklore associations and citizen associations.

Federal Ministry of Culture keeps and updates the Preliminary List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the documentations are in institutions within the competency of the Cantons.

Since the ratification of the 2003 Convention, Federal Ministry of Culture has promoted intangible cultural heritage through conferences, round tables, exhibitions and other forms of presentation, promotion and affirmation of intangible heritage.

The conference „European Heritage Days “, held on November 2015 in Livno, was

dedicated to one of the elements on the Preliminary List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of

Federation of BiH ganga, polyphonic form of rural tradition. Conference proceedings was

published at the beginning of 2016.

Local community of woodcarvers in Konjic has been cooperating with Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo by organizing training for the students of the Department of Product Design.

To encourage interest in woodcarving craft, the family workshop “Rukotvorine”, organizes Open Door Days for the senior elementary school students and their parents from Konjic

All ministries for culture in Bosnia and Herzegovina provide financial assistance for the implementation of projects aimed at safeguarding and promotion of intangible cultural heritage.

Section CIOFF BiH has activities which greatly contribute to the safeguarding of intangible heritage in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its promotion abroad,

Association of Croatian Cultural Clubs in Bosnia and Herzegovina is NGO which was accredited in 2014 to provide consultative service to Intergovernmental Committee for Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Both entity ministries give a financial support to CIOFF certified folk festivals held in BiH . These festivals comply with international standards in the field of traditional arts and promote the intangible cultural heritage in accordance with 2003 Convention.

The work of the Society for the Digitization of Traditional Cultural Heritage, which was founded in 2008 and deals with the digitization and presentation of content related to the traditional cultural heritage is also important.

The carriers of the elements included on the List of Intangible Cultral Heritage organize various activities for promoting their heritage, e.g.:

- Traditional events held in the areas of origin of elements (Picking of iva grass on Ozren Mountain, Nevesinje Olympics),

- Schools for transmission of skills, knowledge and mastery (School of Zmijanje embroidery),

- The local community prepared a study on "The Secret Code for Communication of Osat Builders” (Osat language).

Also, all local communities promote their intangible cultural heritage through electronic and print media.

There is no institution dealing with the training in the management of the intangible cultural heritage in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, following the ratification of 2003 Convention, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Commission of BiH for UNESCO, with support of UNESCO Office in Sarajevo, have organized a workshop to provide the training for the representatives of all levels of government, NGO sector, and public institutions in inventorying, management and other aspects of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. The workshop was facilitated by independent international experts, and all attendees of the workshop have received a certificate of completion. This training has enabled our experts to proceed with activities of compiling the Inventories of intangible cultural heritage.

Our experts participate regularly in the Annual Meeting of the South East European Experts Network on Intangible Cultural Heritage and in the meetings of the Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in South-Eastern Europe in Sofia, Bulgaria.

We consider it is very important to strengthen regional cooperation and we would like the next 11th meeting of experts on intangible heritage of South East Europe to be held in Bosnia and Herzegovina

We also believe that these meetings can contribute in initiating our joint projects

We thank UNESCO for the continuous support

I congratulate to our hosts for the excellent organization and hospitality

And I hope to see you all in Bosnia and Herzegovina next year

Konjic woodcarving

Thank you!