Paper short abstract:

Should there exist same format of inventories at the regional level? Is it necessary to distinguish between traditional folk and traditional urban culture? What is the role of professional institutions in the process of preservation of the ICH ?

Paper long abstract:

The Czech Republic has started to create a national inventory of the intangible cultural heritage at the same time, when negotiation on the Convention 2003 was in process. Most of the criteria of the Representative List of the ICH thus also appeared on the national inventory, which has been until today the only inventory of the ICH in the Czech Republic. As it gradually added various elements, it raises a number of questions that relate to the inventory of living traditions.

The extent and diversity of the ICH confront us with the question whether for its better inventories should exist same format of lists (according to uniformed criteria) at the regional level, when we know that the conditions of each country i.e. in the European region are different, as well as safeguarding measures of the ICH.

There is also another question linked to this - in the Czech Republic, it is distinguished between the traditional folk culture, which is examined by ethnologists and folklorists, and traditional urban culture, which is dealt mainly by historians and museum keepers. How can be these areas of the ICH affected in the inventory of the elements?

One of the more general topics, which the Czech Republic poses, is also the question of the contribution of professional institutions, especially universities, with regard to the safeguarding of the ICH. Should they primarily document the development of the ICH without any intervention or should they be actively involved in the process of maintaining and safeguarding the ICH?