Intangible heritage: a tangible boost

　　These inventories will make it possible to classify intangible heritage in its different forms - the items to be included on representative lists, of course, but also Living Human Treasures.

　　The concept, created in 1950 in Japan, was adopted by the Republic of Korea in 1964, then by the Philippines, Thailand, Romania, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and France, where the living treasures are called "masters of crafts" and are goldsmiths and silversmiths, traditional bookbinders or makers of musical instruments.

　　Languages too are protected by the convention, not just as means of communication but also as reflections of a particular perception of the world. Inventories can also be taken of traditional music.

　　A little more than two years elapsed between the convention's ratification by UNESCO's General Conference in October, 2003 and its entry into force. For Antonio Augusto Arantes, former president of Brazil's Institute for National Historical and Artistic Heritage, "The speed of the ratification process was a real surprise. But it proves simply that governments are resonating to something that civil society, at least in my country, has laid claim to for 20 years."

　　This is just what Juan Goytisolo, president of the jury for the first two Proclamations of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, was describing when he spoke of "the infinite wealth and variety of human inventiveness regarding the origin of the world and our presence in it." (Lucía Iglesias Kuntz)