“St. Barbara’s Day and mining traditions” - our application to UNESCO is complete

On March 14, a working meeting was held in the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in Warsaw to discuss the international application titled “St. Barbara’s Day and mining traditions” for entry on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage.
The list is kept by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), a UN body, for the purpose of distinguishing selected phenomena in intangible heritage and their related cultural spaces worldwide.

The application in question was developed in cooperation with Austria and Luxembourg, and during the meeting, the participants familiarized themselves with materials which will be attached to it. They formulated the final versions of the documents, which will be submitted to UNESCO this month.

The President of the State Mining Authority, Adam Mirek, PhD Eng., was one among over 30 participants of the meeting presided by Jakub Wiśniewski, the Deputy Director at the Monument Conservation Department of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and Joanna Cicha-Kuczyńska, the legal counsel at the Monument Conservation Department.

Last year’s argumentation for the application, prepared by the State Mining Authority, reads that: “We, the undersigned custodians of St. Barbara’s Day and its mining traditions, hereby confirm that its tradition is passed onto next generations regardless of gender, age, disability, race or ethnic origin, religious affiliation or viewpoint, sexual orientation. (...) At the State Mining Authority, we have adopted objectives which we pursue every day: taking measures to protect and safeguard the cultural heritage of mining, the public cultivation of tradition, education, support of pro-social standpoints and intergenerational message. We are convinced that entering “St. Barbara’s Day and mining traditions” on the Representative list of intangible cultural heritage will strengthen our bond with these values in our environment, and will serve as a great example for other traditions in Poland and abroad”.

Remember that, on October 22 last year, an official gala was held in Warsaw, during which an announcement was made about 15 phenomena being entered on the National list of intangible cultural heritage. These included, among others: St. Barbara’s Day celebration of the hard coal miners in Upper Silesia.

Protection of the intangible heritage of St. Barbara’s Day celebration consists in securing various documentation concerning the celebration itself, conducting scientific research and using its effects, among others, to educate about and promote this very day.

The National list of intangible cultural heritage is one of the forms of protection of cultural heritage, which stems from the UNESCO’s 2003 convention on the protection of intangible cultural heritage, which was signed by Poland. The list is purely informative and contains a description of selected phenomena, their historical developments, information about the area of their occurrence and their significance for the communities that cultivate them. Currently the list names 32 phenomena.