Tangible and intangible cultural heritage - ViaRegiaUkraine
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Tangible and intangible cultural heritage

“Without a native language, there is no nation, young man”

V.Sosyura
A cultural heritage of each nation is not only a combination of inherited cultural values from the predecessors. It is a source of life, from which each nation and country feeds itself, and without which a successful development of the state.

While travelling through different countries we first learn the culture of a certain nation, its spiritual values, traditions and beliefs, we study the language, trying to understand its essence. And the answer to this understanding lies within depths of a national culture, that manifests in a tangible and intangible cultural heritage of each nation.

When we talk about a “tangible cultural heritage” we mean: monuments, ensembles, sights, as well as: the content of libraries, museums, archives; architectural buildings (churches, monasteries, castles, palaces) and other cultural and architectural monuments.

In the UNESCO Convention the term “intangible cultural heritage” means those traditions, forms of representations and expressions, knowledge and skills, as well as corresponding instruments, items, artifacts and cultural spaces, that are considered by the communities, groups and in some cases certain individuals as part of their cultural heritage. This is intangible cultural heritage, which is passed down from generation to generation and is constantly reproduced

Ukrainian sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List

7 Ukrainian cultural-architectural and natural pearls, listed on the UNESCO, world heritage list are:

  1. St. Sophia Cathedral, Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and related monastic buildings (from 1990)
  2. Ensemble of the historical center of Lviv (from 1998)
  3. Struve Geodetic Arc (2005)
  4. “Residence metropolitans of Bukovina and Dalmatia” (now – Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University) (from 2011)
  5. “Ancient city Chersonese Tavriya and its choirs” (from 2013)
  6. “Wooden Churches of the Carpathian region of Ukraine and Poland”, joint Ukrainian-Polish nomination (from 2013)
  7. Natural object: “Beech Villas of the Carpathians and Ancient Beech Forests of Germany (from 2011)

As of the intangible cultural heritage list, 6 elements are included in it, which are:

  • Opishnian ceramics
  • Bread culture (Bread culture and traditions)
  • Krolevets woven towels
  • Petrykivka painting
  • Kosiv painted ceramics
  • Cossack songs of Dnipropetrovsk region.

In October 2020 it was decided that “Culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking” will also be added to the list. In addition, Petrykivka painting and “Tradition of Kosiv hand-painted ceramics” are included to the representative list.

Tangible
Іntangible
Architectural buildings
Churches, monasteries, fortresses, castles, palaces and other cultural and architectural monuments
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Attractions
Works of architecture, monumental sculpture and painting, elements and structures of archaeological nature, inscriptions, caves and groups of elements, that have a prominent universal value in terms of history, art of science
Contents of libraries, museums, archives
It includes printed and written materials, as well as digitized copies of these materials and electronic materials.
Ensambles
Groups of isolated or combined buildings, architecture, unity or connection with a landscape, that are a prominent universal value in terms of history, art of science.
Landmarks
Works of an individual or mutual creations of a human and nature, as well as areas, including archeological sites, that have a universal value in terms of history, aesthetics, ethnology or anthropology
Oral traditions and forms of expression
Oral tradition of the Ukrainian nation is reflected in the folklore and language as a bearer of intangible cultural heritage. Ukrainian language is the basis for a formation of culture and at the same time its form of expression
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Folk performing art
Performing art – an area of artistic and creative activities, that helps to present folklore works, in particular songs, musical instrumental compositions, dances, stage works, games
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Customs, rites, celebrations
These means of preserving Ukrainian identity are an essential part of a regular life. They are connected to a traditional mindset, which had been forming within many centuries. They reflect not only an ethnic originality, but aesthetics, moral values, mentality, history
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Traditional crafts
Traditional skills and abilities of Ukrainian nature, that have been passed down generation to generation throughout centuries for the improvement of living life and decoration of surrounding space. That is why crafts and trades express the continuity, identity and cultural diversity characteristic of a particular region
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Knowledge and customs concerning nature and the universe
This knowledge formed the basis of the economic and household culture of the Ukrainian nation, that includes a whole complex of traditions, customs, rites and rational practices, which ensured sustainability of community life and reproducibility of the population in certain natural and climatic conditions.
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