Intangible heritage

UNESCO defines the intangible culture as practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills that communities recognize as part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity.

In Slovenia it is usually divided in the following areas:

oral traditions and folk literature (e.g. storytelling)
performances and presentations (theatre e.g. Škofja Loka Passion Play, singing, instrumental music)
customs and habits (seasonal customs e.g. Kurentovanje or Mardi Gras at Cerknica)
knowledge and practices concerning the environment
traditional craftsmanship (e.g. lacemaking from Idrija)
cultural environment

Its safeguarding is based on the UNESCO Convention (2003) and the state law on natural and cultural heritage (2008). It has been coordinated by Institute of Slovene Ethnology and will be eventually enlisted in the national register. This list, however, provides you with some of the ongoing intangible cultural events as well as with the main institutional contacts for your convenience.

Škofja Loka Passion Play

Škofja Loka Passion Play in 2015. Athor: Tadej Pišek

The original text of the Škofja Loka Passion Play by Friar Romuald (preserved at the Capuchin Monastery Archives and Library, Škofja Loka) dates from 1721, making it the oldest Slovene dramatic text in existence. Fragments of the play were reconstructed in 1936 and 1965, but efforts by the Museum Society of Škofja Loka to reassemble the complete text did not begin in earnest until 1997, when the mayor of Škofja Loka suggested a new staging of the play. Various organisational groups were formed and joined by experts on costume design, language, acting, vocal and instrumental music, overall image creation, cuisine, organisation and promotion. Group leaders recruited actors in individual villages, rehearsals were organised and the play was performed in 1999 and again in 2000. On each occasion 1,200 participants (640 local amateur actors, 80 horsemen, etc.) presented the Passion in four locations in Škofja Loka, to over 30,000 spectators.

The latest Passion was performed in 2009 (800 actors, 80 horsemen, 24,000 spectators), its re-staging took place from 21 March through 12 April 2015. The next event should have taken place in March 2021, on the occassion of the even's 300th anniversary, however, due to pandemic it was postponed, probably taking place no earlier than in 2026.

In December 2016 the Škofja Loka Passion Play got inscribed onto the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

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Upcoming events abroad

28 May 2024

Austria Vienna Institut für Osteuropäische Geschichte Universitätscampus Wien

programme

info

A projection of "Snatched from the Source - Zajeti v izviru: Slovenski otroci Lebensborna", a documentary film about last living Slovenian victims of the Nazi racial experiment: Ingrid von Oelhafen, Hay Henry Hayder, Franc Zagožen, and Ivan Acman. After the projection, there will be a talk with the director Maja Weiss, the writer Nataša Konc Lorenzutti and professor Marija Wakounig from the University of Vienna. In collaboration with Institut für Osteuropäische Geschichte der Universität Wien and Bela Film.