Handcrafted glass inscribed on UNESCO’s cultural heritage list

The Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage on Wednesday inscribed the knowledge, craft and skills of handmade glass production on the UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, said the Ministry of Education and Culture in a press release.

The joint application of Finland and five other countries for the UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage was approved by a meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee in Botswana.

The multinational application process was led by France and included Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic and Hungary in addition to Finland.

In Finland, 17 operators in the glassmaking industry supported the nomination. The Finnish Glass Museum coordinated the application in collaboration with the Finnish Heritage Agency.

“I am very happy that UNESCO has decided to recognise this valuable tradition and the entire profession. Finnish glass design is well known, and UNESCO's recognition will increase the global appreciation of the masters of this traditional skill and Finnish glass,” said Minister of Science and Culture Sari Multala.

The joint European application sought to safeguard the vitality of the rare profession and further strengthen international cooperation.

Another objective was to increase consumers' appreciation of handmade glass. Not only does processing glass require handcrafting skills, which are living intangible cultural heritage, the glass items themselves are tangible heritage and design.

Living Heritage has been the theme for this year on the occasion of UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage celebrating its 20th anniversary. Finland has been a party to the Convention for ten years.

The Finnish practices previously inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage are sauna tradition, Kaustinen folk fiddle playing and multinational Nordic liner boat tradition.