Frequently asked questions

Intangible cultural heritage is living heritage

That’s why intangible cultural heritage is often called “living” heritage: it’s alive, constantly evolving, and reflected in what we wear, the festivals we celebrate, the food we prepare, the skills we pass on, and the traditions we take part in. Think of examples like Carnival, Keti Koti, crafts such as clog making or batik dyeing, or the telling of folk tales.

Intangible heritage enriches our society

Intangible heritage matters because it helps people feel connected — to the past, to each other, and to different cultures. It adds depth and meaning to society, offering fresh perspectives on social and environmental issues. By sharing customs, traditions, and celebrations, it can build bridges between people from diverse backgrounds.

The UNESCO Convention on Intangible Heritage and the Netherlands

To highlight the value of intangible heritage and help secure its future, UNESCO introduced the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2003. Through this convention, UNESCO calls on countries to identify intangible heritage, support knowledge-sharing, and promote its long-term sustainability. Nearly 200 countries — including the Netherlands — have signed the convention. How it is put into practice differs from one country to another.

The Dutch Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage Netherlands (KIEN) and the UNESCO Convention

Since 2012, the Knowledge Centre for Intangible Heritage Netherlands (KIEN) has coordinated the implementation of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Netherlands. Based at the Netherlands Open Air Museum in Arnhem, our mission is to strengthen knowledge, raise awareness, and increase the visibility of intangible heritage.

The Inventory of Intangible Heritage in the Netherlands

One of KIEN’s core responsibilities is managing the Intangible Heritage Inventory of the Netherlands — a living and evolving collection of traditions, crafts, festivals, and customs that are actively practiced and valued today. From flower parades to Pencak Silat, from artisanal fishing to traditional Moluccan healing practices.

The inventory is constantly growing and changing. Intangible heritage is always in motion — new practices emerge, others evolve, or continue in different forms. The inventory reflects this dynamic nature and is shaped by the communities who carry the heritage. They are the experts in their own traditions, and their wishes determine whether or not their heritage is included.

That’s why the inventory is not a list that defines what “counts” as intangible heritage — inclusion or exclusion is not a judgment of value. A practice that isn’t listed may still be intangible heritage. The inventory’s main purpose is to make heritage more visible as a living connection between past, present, and future.

Browse the Intangible Heritage Inventory

The UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage aims to:

• Protect intangible cultural heritage;
• Promote the respect for intangible cultural heritage and its bearers;
• Raise the awareness of the significance of intangible cultural heritage at an international, national and local level;
• Ensure the recognition and appreciation of the cultural diversity;
• Promote international cooperation.

Worldwide 175 countries signed the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

See the page of this UNESCO Convention here.

UNESCO wishes to protect intangible cultural heritage, or ‘safeguard’ it. To protect, or secure, means: to give a future to intangible cultural heritage, to find a form that also appeals to future generations and to take away the bottlenecks that block the way to the future of this ICH.

Intangible cultural heritage is always dynamic and under development. Protection therefore does not mean: keeping it as it used to be in the past. UNESCO does not want to turn ICH into museum pieces.

Protection and safeguarding of intangible heritage is done by the practitioners themselves. In the Netherlands the Dutch Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage can offer support in this respect.

UNESCO puts the responsibility for keeping the ICH alive and dynamic in the very hands of the communities, or individuals or groups who practice it. Thus, there is no direction from above, or so that the government determines what the intangible cultural heritage should look like. That is the responsibility of the people themselves. The government, however, did undertake the obligation to contribute to a favourable climate in which intangible cultural heritage can flourish.

The Centre can provide support to the communities for safeguarding ICH, for instance by assistance in making the Safeguarding Plan and by offering courses, trainings and meetings in the context of maintaining viability and the transmission of intangible cultural heritage.

This UNESCO Convention has assigned a central role to the people who practice a form of ICH or are closely involved in it. Only they can keep this intangible cultural heritage alive and up-to-date and pass their love, knowledge and skills on to next generations. In an ICH community it will be a group, or groups of people, and sometimes even an individual, who organise themselves for a shorter or longer period around a certain form of ICH and wish to actively contribute to it.

The Dutch Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage attaches a dynamic meaning to the notion ‘heritage community’. A heritage community must not be an enclosed, almost unchangeable unit but, on the contrary, will be vivid and open, just like the ICH itself. In the Netherlands we go for an inclusive approach of ‘communities, groups or individuals.’

UNESCO has three international lists for intangible heritage:

The Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding

For this list countries can nominate intangible heritage that is almost extinct and needs urgent measures to keep it alive and pass it on to future generations.

Register of Good Safeguarding Practices

This Register contains programs and projects that best reflect the objectives of the Convention in terms of safeguarding and that can inspire others. 

You can browse these three UNESCO Lists here.

The Inventory of Intangible Heritage in the Netherlands contains only intangible heritage of people from the Netherlands.

UNESCO's intangible heritage lists contain intangible heritage from around the world. The Netherlands can only nominate intangible heritage for the international UNESCO lists that are already inscribed in the Inventory. The international lists offer in a way a selection from the several national inventories.

Only countries ('State parties') can nominate for the international lists of UNESCO. That means that the communities can not do it themselves. An important condition is that the nomination can only be submitted with prior and informed consent of the community, groups and individuals  concerned. 

The UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage is a different treaty than the World Heritage Convention. The World Heritage Convention has existed since 1972 and is intended to better preserve cultural and natural heritage that is of unique and universal value to mankind for future generations.

Intangible heritage can therefore never be 'World Heritage'.

With the ratification of the UNESCO Convention, a whole new branch of heritage has been added, involving many people. There is also a task for heritage organizations here. 

Read more on this subject on the knowledge file on intangible heritage and museums.

The Dutch Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage implements the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Netherlands.

One of the obligations arising from the ratification of this treaty is the compilation of an inventory of intangible heritage. The Dutch Centre supports and guides communities, groups and individuals in safeguarding their intangible heritage for the future. This is achieved, among other things, by offering assistance with the registration of the intangible heritage in the Network, the Inventory of Intangible Heritage in the Netherlands and the Register of Inspiring Examples of Safeguarding; offering courses and training in the field of safeguarding, drawing up a safeguarding plan and increasing the awareness of the importance of intangible heritage.

The Dutch Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage is very active in the field of research and development on of intangible heritage. Its purpose is to contribute to the practice of safeguarding intangible heritage. The Centre maintains close contacts with fellow institutions abroad.