The cultural policy of RA is aimed at preserving and popularizing the historical and cultural heritage, ensuring broad public participation in cultural life, implementing broad cultural propaganda and encouraging the flow of citizens to cultural institutions[1]. The programme objectives of the Government in the field of cultural heritage are to:
- introduce modern management systems in museums, libraries and other cultural heritage institutions;
- implement cultural programmes (festivals, master classes, etc.) in order to transfer knowledge, technical and technological skills, abilities from the bearers of intangible cultural heritage;
- improve the legal framework in the field of immovable monuments of history and culture, clarify the rights and responsibilities of state administration, regional administration and local self-government bodies, private investors and the relationships between them, improve the mechanisms for granting the use of immovable monuments of history and culture and encourage financial investment flows;
- in cooperation with international organizations and the private sector, improve tourism infrastructure development programmes, to support the increase of Armenia’s access to the international tourism market;
- support the development of tourism in communities, the restoration of local traditions;
- create an information database for the preservation of intangible cultural heritage.
One of the main directions of the cultural policy of RA is also the protection of the intangible cultural heritage, its publicization, the study of cultural practices and their dissemination, etc.
The Law on Intangible Cultural Heritage of RA defines it as the customs, traditions, rites, forms of ideas and expressions, knowledge and skills, recognized by the public, groups, and in some cases by individuals as part of their cultural heritage. Intangible cultural values also refer to folklore, language, dialects and sayings, place names, content of emblems and other national symbols, traditional crafts, national customs, traditions, holidays, rituals, social life, forms and rules of behaviour, folk art, the economy, and the cultural information stored in scientific and educational institutions, archives, libraries, legal entities and individuals.
Recently, intangible heritage has been the subject of serious transformations, however the interest toward it, especially among the youth is increasing. This is evidenced by the number of activities, programmes and multi-disciplinary activities of non-governmental organizations aimed at the preservation of heritage, singing, dancing, handicrafts, handicrafts, folk theatre groups, etc.
Currently, state policy RA on the protection, protection and popularization of intangible heritage is regulated on the basis of RA laws and UNESCO international conventions. Thus,
in 2006 The Republic of Armenia ratified UNESCO’s Convention “On the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage” (2003).[2]
In 2009 the National Assembly of RA adopted the Law “On Intangible Cultural Heritage”, which regulates the legal relations arising during the processes of preservation of intangible cultural heritage including the processes of inventory, preparation of lists, identification, documentation, research, application, restoration of intangible cultural values, protection of property rights to these values, preservation of the cultural heritage of the Republic of Armenia, international cultural cooperation, cultural communication of the peoples of the Republic of Armenia and other states, defines the rights and responsibilities of individuals and legal entities in that field, as well as the authorities of state bodies.
The following applications of the Republic of Armenia were registered in the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity of UNESCO: “Duduk and his music” (2008), “Art of cross stones. The knowledge on khachkar and khachkar making” (2010), “Sasna tsrer or performance manifestations of the epic of David of Sassoon” (2012), “Lavash. traditional bread preparation, significance and cultural manifestations in Armenia” (2014), “Kochari. traditional group dance” (2017), “Armenian calligraphy and its cultural manifestations” (2019)[3]. The permanent research on tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the Republic of Armenia is being carried out by numerous academic and cultural institutions of Armenia such as the Yerevan State University, Institutes of Archeology and Ethnography, Art, Literature, Language of the National Academy of Sciences, “Hovhannes Sharambeyan Center of Folk Creativity”, “Museum of Wood Art”, “Yeghishe Charents”, Museum of Literature and Art” SNOCs, etc.
As a result of the 44-day Artsakh war of 2020, the preservation and protection of the Armenian heritage became a primary issue for RA considering the Azerbaijani ambitions to destroy and expropriate the Armenian cultural heritage. Taking into account these dangers, after 2020, a number of organizations aimed at the preservation of cultural heritage were formed: “Monitoring of the Cultural Heritage of Artsakh”, “Monitoring of the Heritage of the Caucasus”, “Save Armenian Monuments”, “Monuments of Artsakh” and others. The main goal of such organizations and programmes is to publicize the Armenian heritage of Artsakh, organize international monitoring and control over the preservation of Armenian heritage by using all possible mechanisms.
[1] https://escs.am/am/news/4415
[2] https://www.arlis.am/DocumentView.aspx?DocID=3139
[3] https://ich.unesco.org/en/lists?text=&country[]=00014&multinational=3&display1=inscriptionID#tabs
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