Alentejo: “stamps” show UNESCO “authenticity” Of region.
The ratings assigned by UNESCO to heritage and cultural practices of the Alentejo demonstrate the "degree of authenticity" and "very strong cultural identity" of the region, He emphasized the regional director of Culture.
"This is a region with a degree of authenticity and strong cultural identity", that "transpires in the international recognition of this heritage value", said the Head of the Regional Directorate of Culture Alentejo (DRCAlen), Ana Paula Amendoeira.
The regional director spoke to Lusa after the region have more won a "seal", the third, of Intangible Cultural Heritage by the United Nations Educational, Science and Culture (UNESCO), this time for the production of figured in Estremoz clay.
The Estremoz dolls join to sing Alentejo, ranked 2014, the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, while the manufacture of rattles, a national application, but focused on Alcáçovas, Viana do Alentejo (Évora), is Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urgent Need of Safeguarding, from 2015.
In the region, stated Ana Paula Amendoeira, UNESCO awards the cover, not only the built heritage, with the historic center of Évora (1986) and the fortifications of Elvas (2012) classified as World Heritage Site, but this "know-how" of communities.
"These marks act as a" mirror ", for ourselves, to our community, for citizens to recognize and convince, de facto, that their cultural heritage and their knowledge have a very large value, either within the country and the region, want out ", he argued.
The value of properties inscribed, he insisted, It follows "the great cultural heritage and authenticity" of the Alentejo, a vast region, but it has a "strong identity".
"Alentejo, for many reasons, but above all because it has been a poor region from an economic point of view, It is a large homogeneous region from the cultural point of view, with an identity that recognizes ", he stressed.
The "abandonment" that the region "has historically", continued Ana Paula Amendoeira, It turned out to include "positive aspects, one of them the quality of the region, of its landscape, the conservation and safeguarding of urban and architectural heritage ".
And, at the same time, favoring "the extension of ancestral practices, in many other regions, already practically lost ", but what, Alentejo, even if they can not not be "all in good health, still exist and are practiced ".
Recognition of Intangible Cultural Heritage, said, "It is closely linked to knowledge of traditional and popular communities" and is "a reminder" against globalization.
"It's the reverse of the process of globalization medal, which is thinner and devouring identities. Here, seeks to get to the root of the knowledge of traditional communities "to preserve the identity and authenticity", compared.
And, this field, "Alentejo is clearly a region of great wealth", He stressed the director, pointing out that "seals" of UNESCO are also the result of the strategy adopted by public institutions, that "work hard" to "recognition of cultural and heritage practices" in the region.
