Inventory on Turkmenistan's intangible cultural heritage

The UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of Turkmenistan organized a four-day capacity-building workshop on Community-Based Inventorying of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). The training is a follow-up activity on a previous workshop organized in 2015. 

Ms. Esther Kuisch Laroche, Director of the UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office and UNESCO Representative to Turkmenistan, welcomed the participants at the opening of the workshop. 

“Understanding and safeguarding intangible cultural heritage is very important, because it is an integral part of our identity, and represents our shared history, present and future”, said Ms. Kuisch Laroche. 

“This living heritage, which is passed on from one generation to the next, provides communities with a sense of continuity, and promotes respect for cultural diversity and human creativity”.

She highlighted the important role of communities and ICH practitioners in UNESCO’s 2003 Convention. 

“Inventorying of intangible cultural heritage and putting in place safeguarding measures, is not an easy task, but this is why we are here together this week. I hope this training will provide you with the tools and knowledge you need to conduct community-based inventorying and safeguard Turkmenistan’s rich intangible cultural heritage”, said the UNESCO Representative.

Dr. Poladov, Secretary-General of the Turkmenistan National Commission for UNESCO, outlined the expectations and objectives of the workshop.

The workshop is facilitated by Mr. Nikolai Ivanov Vukov, UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Expert from Bulgaria, and the participants include staff from the Ministry of Culture, the Academy of Arts, and several ICH practitioners.

In addition to a theoretical review of the tools and methodologies for ICH inventorying, the workshop will also include a review of practical field work.

 To learn more about intangible cultural heritage, please visit: https://ich.unesco.org/#

Turkmenistan currently has two elements inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity: Nowruz (joint nomination) and the Epic art of Gorogly.