SESSION 1 Eighth Annual Meeting of the South East European Experts Network on Intangible Cultural Heritage 15-16 May 2014. Limassol, Cyprus Authors: Ivona Opetcheska Tatarchevska, adviser for intangible cultural heritage in the Cultural Heritage Protection Office, and Velika Stojkova Serafimovska, Researcher for intangible cultural heritage in the Folklore Institute "Marko Cepenkov"-Skopje. DISCLAIMER The ideas and opinions expressed in the above presentations are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the documents do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city of area or of its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

1. 8th Annual Meeting of the South East European Experts
on Intangible Cultural Heritage
The implementation of the UNESCO
Convention for the Safeguarding of
Intangible Cultural Heritage
in Republic of Macedonia: progress, experiences
and challenges
Ivona Opetcheska Tatarchevska & Velika Stojkova Serafimovska
Ministry of Culture of Republic of Macedonia/Cultural Heritage Protection Office
Institute for folklore research “Marko Cepenkov” – Skopje

2.  Republic of Macedonia legally ratified the
Convention for the Safeguarding of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage on the 28th April,
2006.*
 The instrument of ratification was registered
within UNESCO on the 13th June 2006.
* Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia – International Agreements,
No. 59/06.

3. 1. Law on Copyright and other Related Rights (1996);
2. Law of culture (1998) and Law on the Macedonian
Language Use (1998);
3. Law on libraries September 2004
4. National Program for Culture for the period 2004-2008
and 2008 - 2012;
5. Law for archival materials and documents 36/90 and
36/95
6. Law on Cultural Heritage Protection enacted March 19th
2004, entering into force on 1st of January 2005;
improved in 2007,2011, 2013 and 2014.
Legal instruments at national level for the Safeguarding
of the intangible cultural heritage

4. Cultural Heritage
Protection Office
Department for
Prevention and
Supervision
Department for
Identification,
Protection and Use
of Cultural heritage
Department for
Documentation and
Internat. cooperation
Section for
Intangible
heritage
Section for
Movable
heritage
Section for
Immovable
heritage

5. 1. The “Marko Cepenkov” Institute of Folklore in Skopje, a legal
entity for safeguarding folk goods http://ifmc.ukim.mk/
2. The “Krste Misirkov” Macedonian Language Institute in Skopje, a
legal entity for safeguarding the Macedonian language, its
dialects and the ethnic minority dialects spoken in the Republic of
Macedonia http://imj.ukim.edu.mk/
3. The Museum of Macedonia made a quiet entrance in the system of
safeguarding intangible goods http://www.musmk.org.mk/
4. Institute for Old Slavic Culture in Prilep, which gave a significant
contribution to researching, documenting and elaborating the
ICH from the region of the western part of the Republic of
Macedonia http://www.isk.edu.mk
Authorized institutions/protectors for Intangible
heritage:

6. 1. Joint project of Ministry of Local Self-Government and Ministry of
Culture for mapping 170 barriers of spiritual and cultural heritage at
national level;
2. The State Survey Office reviewed 30 toponyms on the topographical
maps;
3. Adaptation of the Cultural Heritage Protection Law[1] to the Local Self-
Government Territorial Organization Law;
4. The toponyms were registered in the Global Mapping database – 613
toponyms were transcribed: 291 localities, 84 municipalities, 19
lakes, 219 rivers.
5. The Cinematheque of Macedonia and the Museum of Macedonia has
been working on mutual project for digitalisation of the film archive
and organizing joint school projections of the movies.
6. Notation: It is important to note that the Republic of Macedonia is the first
country in Europe to supply data for this base.
Collaboration with other government agencies

7.  During the last nine years, the Culture Heritage Protection Office has
identified and validated the Cultural Heritage Protection Law and four
years since the enactment of the Law on Ratifying the Convention for
the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, analyses of
identifying and validating 88 intangible goods have been processed
from which:
- 58 folk goods
- 19 dialects of Macedonian and
- 10 dialects of the ethnic minority languages in Macedonia,
- 1 cultural good in the category of toponyms.
Period of nine years of enforcing the legal
instruments:

8. Ministry of Culture has been preparing
special applications
 Local cultural operators receive funds for safeguarding
of the intangible cultural heritage.
 Among the state projects involving the intangible
cultural heritage, we would like to single out the
following strategies of the Ministry of Culture:
- The Strategy for Digitalizing the Cultural Heritage,
promoted on 25th January 2010, active from July 2013;
- The Strategy for Reviving the Old Bazaar in Skopje,
promoted on 17th February 2010.
- Cultural strategy for safeguarding and protecting the
Intangible Cultural with Action Plan (2013 – 2017 )

9. Cultural strategy for safeguarding and protecting the
Intangible Cultural Heritage 2013 – 2017, financed by the
Ministry of Culture of Republic of Macedonia
 Ongoing projects proposed by the licensed Institutions
for protecting and promoting the ICH in Republic of
Macedonia (winter processions “Dzomolari” from
village of Begnishte, spring female rit de passage dances
“Lazarki” in Drimkol, etc. )
- Digitalization of the archive of the Institute for
Folklore;
- Creating web page of ICH elements of the Republic of
Macedonia;
- Preparing movies about ICH elements already enlisted
on the National Registry

10.  Media actions to raise the awareness for
safeguarding the intangible culture resulting
 The Cyrillic Alphabet Song: www.mojatakirilica.com.mk;
 Digital archives of the Macedonian language,
http://damj.manu.edu.mk/materijali_en.html, as well as the recently promoted
first Macedonian dialectal atlas at the Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences;
 Macedonia Timeless: http://www.macedonia-timeless.com/;
Macedonian Cultural Heritage:
http://soros.org.mk/konkurs/038/Kultura.htm;
 Macedonian folk songs: http://pesna.org/;
 The Living Heritage Network: http://www.zivonasledstvo.org.mk/default_en.asp;
 Exploring Macedonia – Short documentary movies about the archaeological sites,
art crafts, monuments, myths and legends. The Movies are mostly aimed to
promote education, culture and tourism among the youth in Republic of
Macedonia which increases the visibility of the Cultural Heritage in general;
http://www.exploringmacedonia.com/
 „Талкачи“ – Wanderers, a serial of short documentary movies broadcast on
Macedonian National television, financed by the Government. The movies are
very popular among the young population. They represent the Culture and ICH
elements from all regions of the Republic of Macedonia.

11. In 2011 Republic of Macedonia submitted three files for
UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage
1. The male social dance “Kopachkata” from Dramche –
Representative list
2. Feast of the Holy Forty Martyrs in Štip - Representative
list
3. Glasoechko, male two-part singing in Dolni Polog –
Urgent safeguarding

12. “Chetrse” / Holly forty Martyrs from Shtip inscribed
in the Representative List of UNESCO in 2013

14. International cooperation and networking
On initiative of Turkey, together with Croatia, Serbia, Romania and
Moldova, Republic of Macedonia participated in the submission of
the Multinational Nomination file of inscribing the Spring
Celebrations: Hıdrellez/Saint George’s Day on the UNESCO ICH
Representative list. The file have been submitted for possible
inscription in 2014.
In April, 2013, Republic of Macedonia participated in the preliminary
meeting held in Eskishehir, Turkey, for preparing another
Multinational Nomination filpe of inscribing the Anecdotes of
Naasredin Hodja on the UNESCO ICH Representative list. The
initiative in again given by the Turkish National Commission for
UNESCO.
In 2014 Republic of Macedonia participated in the submission of the
Multinational Nomination file of inscribing 1st of March celebration
on the UNESCO ICH Representative list. The initiative is taken by
the Romanian National Commission for UNESCO.

15. Joint project with the Turkish National
Commission for UNESCO
– Sharing the same taste

16.  On October 25, 2013, the ICTM
National Committee of
Macedonia and the Ministry of
Culture organized a concert on
which performing art elements
from the region of SE Europe
which are inscribed on UNESCO
ICH lists were presented. The
event was part of marking the 10th
anniversary of the UNESCO ICH
Convention.

18.  Due to the inscription of the first element on
the UNESCO ICH Representative list, the
visibility of the Convention is increased, which
provoked the Institutions, the Local
government and concerned communities to
take larger initiative for safeguarding of the
ICH in the country.
 ICTM NC for Macedonia with financial
support of the Ministry of Culture, this year
started a new project “Implementing and
promoting the ICH Convention 2003”
Progress

19. Informal and Formal education

20. Informal education within
the Folk groups and NGOs
Folk festivals - Folk groups and ensembles
NGOs – workshops and seminars
Visits from experts on different festivals
and fieldwork researching

21.  Universities and departments
- University St. Kiril i Metodij – Skopje (Faculty of music art,
department of ethnomusicology and traditional music instruments;
Faculty of Tourism, Institute for folklore “Marko Cepenkov”,
Institute for ethnology and anthropology)
- University Goce Delchev – Stip (Faculty of Tourism and
management)
- University EUROBALKAN – postgraduate program of Cultural
Heritage
- Music high school in Skopje – department for traditional musical
instruments
- Different holiday occasions in preschools and elementary schools
(independent projects)
Formal education

22. Thank you for your attention