Intangible Heritage

UNESCO » Office in Doha » Culture » Intangible Heritage

Areas of Action

The term ‘cultural heritage’ has changed content considerably in recent decades, partially owing to the instruments developed by UNESCO. Cultural heritage does not end at monuments and collections of objects. It also includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.

Cultural heritage is a non- renewable resource, and one must consider that once it is lost, it is lost forever. It therefore needs to be protected through awareness raising, the enforcement of legal instruments, the spread of knowledge and values, the elaboration of documentation and inventories, and the improvement of capacity building at local levels in order to create self-sustainable means to manage, protect and enhance the existing culture and heritage.