Horezu ceramics added to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage decided to add the hand-made Horezu ceramics to the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Horezu ceramics are a unique traditional craft, handmade in Romania’s Valcea County.

The potters select and extract the earth, which is then cleaned, cut, watered, kneaded, trampled and mixed – transforming it into a clay body from which they produce a red pottery. Each object is shaped with a special finger technique, decorated with traditional motifs in vivid shades, and then fired. The potters rely on traditional tools: mixers, potter’s wheels, combs, tools for decoration and wood-burning stoves.

Alongside the Horezu ceramics, new additions to the list come from: Oman, Spain, Turkey, Venezuela and Viet Nam. The Committee also extended the 2010 multinational inscription of falconry to include Austria and Hungary, which join Saudi Arabia, Belgium, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, France, Morocco, Mongolia, Qatar, Syria, the Republic of Korea and the Czech Republic.

They are: the Fiesta of the patios in Cordova, Spain; the Mesir Macunu festival, Turkey; the Al-Taghrooda traditional Bedouin chanted poetry in the United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate of Oman, Oman; the Venezuela’s Dancing Devils of Corpus Christi, Venezuela; the Worship of Hùng kings in Phú Thọ, Viet Nam; the Falconry, a living human heritage, United Arab Emirates – Austria – Belgium – Czech Republic – France – Hungary – Republic of Korea – Mongolia – Morocco – Qatar – Saudi Arabia – Spain – Syrian Arab Republic.

Photo courtesy of UNESCO website