Photo: Maraton Hudby Brno, 2019, credit: TIC. For illustration purposes.
Rabat/Prague, Dec 2 (CTK) – The Czech program “Bearers of Folk Craft Tradition” has been added to the register of good practices for safeguarding traditional crafts, following nomination at yesterday’s meeting of the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in Morocco, the Czech Culture Ministry told CTK.
The program, which helps to preserve traditional folk crafts for future generations, is run by the ministry, along with the National Institute of Folk Culture in Straznice, South Moravia. The program has become the first Czech entry in the register, said Culture Minister Martin Baxa (ODS).
The Czech Culture Ministry has been granting excellent artisans the title of Bearer of folk craft tradition annually since 2001. This award aims to safeguard traditional crafts by documenting them and passing the skills to new generations. To date, nearly 90 artisans have been awarded this title in the country.
The nomination of the program was planned for several years. The ministry contacted all 64 living participants in the program, and more than half of them cooperated on preparations for the nomination.
The blueprint textile technique, which was added to the UNESCO list of world intangible cultural heritage in 2018, is an example of such folk craft tradition. This technique is used in two family workshops, the Danzinger workshop in Olesnice and the Joch workshop in Straznice, both in South Moravia. These workshops produce their products for makers of traditional clothing in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
