Chapter 8 The Definition of Intangible Cultural Heritage

This chapter identifies the essential components of the definition of intangible cultural heritage as provided by the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Convention. The analysis will be carried out in the light of the practice thus far developed by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in maintaining the two Lists established by the Convention, namely the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (the Representative List) and the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding (the Safeguarding List), and in inscribing elements on them. This practice can shed light on how the definition provided by Article 2(1) is interpreted in the application of the ICH Convention. Despite the lengthy content of Article 2(1), the essential components of the concept of intangible cultural heritage seem to be three, namely: a manifestation of such heritage, a community of people and a cultural space. Keywords:cultural space; Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH); safeguarding