Intangible Cultural Heritage and Public Governance in the City

Jorijn Neyrinck
Thank you, Hanna, for introducing us, and hello to everyone here and online. I’m very happy to join you on one of these thrilling days where journeys begin. As Hanna has already mentioned, we have been addressing a long story of aspects and issues. I believe Hanna and her team are tackling a very challenging role as the new UNESCO Chair, as they are addressing all these topics that we all are wondering how we will deal with them over the next 20 years. The work you are doing is crucial, and we will be discussing it.  

We will discuss the role of museums and brokers in this nexus where ICH and the whole UNESCO convention paradigm are put into practice, often in very local contexts. I’m eager to first listen to Andrzej Szoka and how he addresses this context as we zoomed out to global public governance. Now, we will zoom in to understand what this means when you go to a local context, specifically in areas of urbanization, where things are changing so quickly. It can be disruptive for living heritage, but it can also be very enriching. New hybrids and practices are starting as people come together, and new things can emerge. We will explore how this is handled in local contexts. We will listen to several perspectives and later have an exchange on the public governance and roles involved. The floor is yours.

Andrzej Szoka

Thank you, and I extend my congratulations to Hanna once more. We have collaborated for many years, and today marks the next step in safeguarding intangible heritage in Poland, with Hanna also drawing inspiration from Krakow. I will elaborate on this in the last part of my presentation.

I am not the director but a manager at our museum, the Intangible Heritage Center of Krakow. While it is a new establishment, it is rooted in the traditions not just of our institution but of the city itself. Krakow has long been protective of ICH, which in the 19th century was referred to as folklore traditions and customs. We find historical records showing that Krakow’s officials and intelligentsia supported the bearers of these traditions more than 100 years ago.

For instance, the iconic parade and the Szopka nativity scenes are vital traditions. The first competition for these nativities was established in 1937 by officials in Krakow. These are some initial reflections on how the people of our city have historically regarded ICH.

I should also mention that many of Krakow’s most famous traditions, like the iconic parade and Szopka tradition, originated not from the city center—which is listed on UNESCO’s tangible heritage list—but from the outskirts and the villages surrounding the city, which were incorporated during the 20th century. These areas are integral to Polish identity.

Our museum, the Historical Museum of Krakow, became an independent institution in 1945. Its role was to protect, document, and promote ICH, especially through events like the annual contest for the most beautiful nativity scene. In the 1970s, our museum established the Department of Folklore and Tradition, focusing on collecting significant cultural items. We currently have around 290 Szopka nativities in our collection.

A significant change occurred in 2011 with the introduction of the UNESCO convention, leading us to recognize certain traditions as ICH, including the iconic nativity scene, which, thanks to Hanna, was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2019. Additionally, Krakow’s bobbin lace and the university’s procession of professors during the academic year are now recognized as ICH.

After 2011, we renamed our department to the Center of Intangible Heritage. Our responsibilities have expanded beyond merely working with objects and documenting traditions. We now support the bearers of these traditions by helping them find financial aid and facilitating the transmission of skills through workshops. We’ve also influenced local laws to provide tangible support, like allowing craftspeople to rent municipal art studios.

Moreover, we are involved in a long-term research program, the Atlas of the ICH of Krakow, planned for 12 years. This project aims to meticulously document the customs, traditions, and languages of every district in Krakow, with the findings to be published in books and an online portal.

This work is extensive, and while we’re not certain of what we’ll discover, it’s an exciting journey for the years to come.

Jorijn Neyrinck

Thank you, Andrzej, for sharing this. It’s quite impressive how many initiatives you are involved in, and I think later we will dive deeper into these intangible cultural heritage themes, or ICH, at the city level. We may also explore how governance and community participation work. But since it’s closely related to our second speaker, let’s first listen to the experience that inspired Krakow. As I understand it, we are to hear from Katarzyna Kuzko-Zwierz who is the head of the Warsaw Praga Museum at the Museum of Warsaw and has also done extensive work on oral history.

Katarzyna Kuzko-Zwierz

Thank you very much. I would also like to thank Hania for inviting me to this amazing event and for introducing me to the world of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). From this meeting, new questions and perspectives have emerged. As you mentioned, I initially started working with oral history, which is closely connected to intangible heritage. Thanks to our discussions and your questions, a new journey for me has begun. I would like to share the Prague Museum’s experiences with you.

Although these initiatives did not start as intangible cultural heritage projects, I believe they serve as good examples of safeguarding ICH practices. The program began in 2007. I won’t go into too much detail, but I must mention Praga, which today is a district of Warsaw on the other side of the Vistula river. When the museum was established, Praga was perceived as the worse part of the city, with many social issues and little interest. Additionally, it was underrepresented in historical literature and inadequately represented in museum collections, such as those of the Museum of Warsaw, of which the Praga Museum is a branch.

Our first step in starting the new museum was to engage with the inhabitants of Praga, asking them to share their memories of life in the area, as well as their family and professional memorabilia, to build a collection that could be displayed in the Praga Museum. In 2015, we opened a permanent exhibition, and our buildings were also renovated.

One of the projects I’d like to mention is “Made in Praga: The Craftsman Project,” which began because we recognized the importance of small workshops and repair shops in the Praga area. Initially, it involved visiting craftsmen who still worked in these small workshops to showcase their work to others in this large city, emphasizing the value of repairing items or having them made locally. In collaboration with Miasto Jest Nasze, an association, we prepared a map showing where residents of Warsaw can buy or repair items. This map was updated last year and is available in both paper form and on our website (http://www.rzemieslnicy.waw.pl/).

Another project was craft-based design, conducted in strict cooperation with the Academy of Fine Arts, particularly the Design department. We organized small groups of students to work on design projects with craftsmen from Praga. These meetings provided a chance for an exchange of experiences between the students and craftsmen, teaching the students how to work with objects and prepare materials they wanted to use. For example, in 2016-2017, students designed objects made of glass in collaboration with a glassware factory.

We also organized workshops training with craftsmen, consisting of a series of six training sessions, each lasting 60 hours. This initiative started because many workshop owners were looking for successors to continue their crafts. We facilitated this by allowing small groups to join these training sessions in various crafts such as confectionery, framing, leatherworking, shoemaking, blacksmithing, and glass molding. An example of a successful transfer of skills is the “Save the Disappearing Cookies” project, where a young participant continued to work with Mr. Schelsky in confectionery after the project ended.

Lastly, I’d like to discuss our new space in the museum, which we call the Open Craft Workshop. It’s designed to resemble the workshop spaces in the Praga area and is filled with tools and materials that craftsmen we’ve worked with wanted to share or sell to the museum. This space allows people to bring in items they want to repair or projects they want to develop, and it is even open to working with new materials, such as leather made from pine. This space exemplifies how a museum can support practices connected to ICH, even though we did not start with this as our primary focus.

Jorijn Neyrinck

Thank you, Kasia, for sharing this. For our third speaker, we will explore another perspective—arriving in a new city and discovering your own living heritage within that context. We’ll hear how you have experienced this and how you are working to foster and share this heritage with others. We will listen to Myroslava Keryk, a specialist in the migration of Ukrainians to Poland and the head of the Civic Organization Ukrainian House. She has authored numerous articles and reports on the situation of migrants in Poland, a topic that is particularly poignant during this difficult period. Myroslava has received several honors and has been recognized for her outstanding work in this field. Her approach offers a unique perspective on what it means to integrate into an urban context and how the UNESCO Living Heritage framework can be relevant to you.

Myroslava Keryk 

Thank you for the invitation. It’s a pleasure to be here, although I must admit, I’m not a specialist in this field. When I was first invited, I thought I would only need about 5 minutes, but upon further reflection, I realized I have a few ideas to share about practices and objects significant to Ukrainians living here. Unfortunately, I don’t have a presentation, so I will discuss this verbally.

Historically, Ukrainians have been in Warsaw for over a hundred years, initially fleeing the Bolsheviks who threatened Ukraine. Despite the presence of Ukrainian institutions and traditions, they were largely invisible to those outside our community, even if they were nearby. Nationalist tensions sometimes made it risky to explore Ukrainian places in Warsaw, as it was seen as a threat to the Polish identity of the city. This was the atmosphere when I first arrived, but the landscape has shifted considerably since the full-scale invasion two years ago. Today, approximately one million Ukrainians live in Poland, with about 300,000 in Warsaw and more in surrounding cities. This diverse group brings various Ukrainian cultures and traditions, which can differ significantly even among themselves, such as the concept of “Borscht,” which varies by region.

The challenge now is to integrate these diverse traditions within the Ukrainian community and to showcase them to others—a work in progress. For example, the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list includes Crimean Tatar ornaments, ceramics, Cossack songs from the Dnipro region, and Petrykivka painting from the same area, all of which are now more visible in Poland, especially at ethnographic fairs.

Regarding Ukrainian House, it’s a community organization formed by Ukrainian migrants. We are team of 120 people, comprising both refugees and migrants, and we’ve developed programs for Ukrainian refugees to engage in art as a form of therapy. These programs not only support them but also introduce their cultural practices to Poles. For instance, Museum of Praga started from a place where they conducted workshops, and now these activities are part of the museum’s regular programs, making the contributions of Ukrainians more visible.

It’s important to note that not everything we do is what might traditionally be seen as “Ukrainian culture.” For example, some activities may pass as artistic collaborations. It’s about being together, creating support groups, and continuing traditions such as Easter breakfasts, Christmas dinners, and Independence Day celebrations. These events are culturally significant, though not necessarily religious, and are essential for bringing people together.

Regarding visibility, during Easter, you will see people carrying special bread to church, a practice that is becoming more recognized. Similarly, during Polish holidays, when the city is quiet, you can hear and see Ukrainians in the parks celebrating their own traditions through song and gathering, thus becoming more visible in the cityscape.

Additionally, protests have become a part of our landscape in Warsaw, reflecting the political and cultural activism of the Ukrainian community, a tradition of peaceful demonstration that aligns with democratic values.

In conclusion, while we didn’t start these projects as intangible cultural heritage initiatives, I believe they have evolved into a robust support system for preserving and promoting Ukrainian cultural practices in a new urban context. Thank you for your attention, and I’m happy to answer any questions.

Jorijn Neyrinck

Well, I think the examples you’ve shared demonstrate how important living heritage is for resilience when arriving in a city, and once you start, it just keeps growing. I have just three brief moments now to reflect with you on a general question before I give the floor to the audience. You’ve touched on this briefly at some points, such as when discussing experiencing your practices in urban spaces. But could you elaborate on how you’ve experienced the policies and what, specifically, supports the living heritage in these contexts?

Myroslava Keryk

Two years ago, when the full-scale invasion began, there was substantial support from institutions, organizing events like festivals where you could showcase your cultural heritage. This support extended not only to major centers but also to smaller localities. However, over time, this support has decreased. It’s crucial to continue engaging and inviting communities, like the Ukrainian community and others, to share their cultures. We’re somewhat invisible in that regard, which is a significant challenge for local authorities to address. They need to be involved and help provide the necessary space. For example, in Prague, we have the Ukrainian House, but it’s now too small to accommodate everyone interested in participating. In Warsaw, we hold Christmas evenings at the Novotel, which is an important space for Warsaw’s residents, not just for those in isolated or marginalized areas. It’s vital that these spaces are visible and welcoming to everyone.

Jorijn Neyrinck

Thank you. Regarding the impact of the new UNESCO convention on museum practices, how has it changed the interaction with local policies for you? Additionally, how do you engage with community participation in this context? Can you reflect briefly on these points? Also, do you have any advice or a message for Hanna and her team based on your experiences, on what they should focus on or engage with?

Katarzyna Kuzko-Zwierz

I think there are significant questions, such as how to be an inclusive museum. In our case, it’s about developing programs that are meaningful to the people living in the city or district, regardless of their origins. This raises the broader question for museums: How can they be places of significance, especially in light of the new definition of museums that has evolved? For me, this is the core issue.

Andrzej Szoka

I can observe that after the inscription of the nativity scene on the UNESCO list, there was a lot of enthusiasm among the authorities in Krakow and the museum. Following the inscription in 2018, we made changes to local law, as I mentioned earlier. We developed some programs on paper, but in practice, not all of these have been effective. For example, we have art studios for Szopka makers, and our city has laws allowing it to subsidize the rent for these studios. However, we’ve been waiting for two years for some proposals because it’s challenging to find suitable spaces in buildings. We also have a program to provide support and funds for individual artists, supported by our City Council, but for the past two to three years, no artists from communities like the bobbin lace makers and Szopka makers have received this support.

We have many points in the program for safeguarding the Szopka nativity scene and traditions in Krakow, but many of these initiatives are still awaiting fulfillment. Of course, there are many new tasks and areas where we can potentially absorb funds from various subcultures and redirect these funds to the communities. It would be better for the communities if individuals or groups could directly absorb funds without intermediaries. This is often challenging because many of these groups are informal, not official NGOs, but rather groups of individuals without formal organization, making it difficult to facilitate support effectively.

Jorijn Neyrinck

Okay, so I think this demonstrates how much more we need to connect the dots between various policies and what’s happening on the ground. This is exactly what the UNESCO chair role entails, along with the different mediation roles we all assume. We have also seen that Hanna has played a significant role, from the UNESCO level down to the very local level here. It’s important to wear these many hats, as we’ve already discussed in the previous session. Thank you all for this discussion!