The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia – Ms. Velika Stojkova Serafimovska, Expert for intangible cultural heritage from National Institute for folklore "Marko Cepenkov"

1. Seventh Annual Regional meeting on Intangible Cultural
Heritage in Southeastern Europe
The implementation of the UNESCO
Convention for Safeguarding of
Intangible Cultural Heritage
in Republic of Macedonia
By Velika Stojkova Serafimovska
ethnomusicologist
Ministry of Culture of Republic of Macedonia
Institute for folklore “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. Legal instruments on national level for Safeguarding of
Intangible cultural heritage
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;

4. 1. Local legislature has implemented
 Articles 11 and 13 of the Convention, as well as
Sections a, c, and partially d-i and d-iii from Article
13.
 Regarding article 12 of the Convention an
inventory was prepared known in Macedonian
legislature as the National Classification of
Macedonian Cultural Heritage.[1]
[1] Official Gazette No. 37/06.

5. The Macedonian law for protection of Cultural heritage,
provides two main categories of values of cultural heritage
 Cultural heritage of exceptional value, divide into two
subcategories:
- cultural heritage of extraordinary value;
- cultural heritage of great value;
 Important Cultural heritage

6. 2. National classification (March, 2006) as National
inventory of cultural heritage
Three categories of spiritual/intangible heritage:
 Macedonian Language with its alphabet and dialects;
 Toponymastic system in Republic of Macedonia
 Folklore goods which accumulate all five categories from
the Convention (Paris, 2003)
3. In the second half of 2006 the Government of the Republic
of Macedonia approved the foundation of the special
Intangible Cultural Heritage Department as part of the
Cultural Heritage Protection Office in the Ministry of
Culture of Republic of Macedonia.

7. Cultural Heritage
Protection Office
Department forDepartment for
Prevention andPrevention and
SupervisionSupervision
Department forDepartment for
Identification,Identification,
Protection and UseProtection and Use
of Cultural heritageof Cultural heritage
Department forDepartment for
Documentation andDocumentation and
Internat. cooperationInternat. cooperation
Section for
Intangible
heritage
Section for
Movable
heritage
Section for
Immovable
heritage

8. Authorized institutions/protectors for Intangible heritage:
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 great
contribution in researching, documenting and elaborating the ICH
from the region of the western part of the Republic of Macedonia
http://www.isk.edu.mk

9. Collaboration with other government agencies
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.

10. 4. Period of eight years of enforcing the legal
instruments:
 During the last eight years, the Culture Heritage Protection Office has
identify and validate Cultural Heritage Protection Law and has
identified and validated 88 intangible goods which are inscribed in
the National Registry:
- 58 folk creations
- 19 dialects of Macedonian and
- 10 dialects of the ethnic minority languages in Macedonia,
- 1 cultural good in the category of toponyms.

11. 5. Ministry of culture promote the dialogue
between cultural expressions
Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of
Cultural Expressions was ratified on 22 May 2007:
 Safeguarding of the ethnic minority dialects is already in
motion;
 The identification and validation of wedding and funeral rituals
of Macedonians and Albanians is also in process;
 Inscribing in the National registry the holiday St. George –
Gjurgjovden/ Hidrellez,/Erdelezi/Shen Gjergji/ Ayiu Georghi
celebrated by ethnic Macedonians and all the ethnic minorities
living in Macedonia - Turks, Romani, Vlachs, Albanians.

12. 6. 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, and
- The Strategy for Reviving the Old Bazaar in Skopje,
promoted on 17th February 2010.
- Cultural strategy for safeguarding and protecting
the Intangible Cultural Heritage 2013 – 2017

13. Cultural strategy for safeguarding and protecting the
Intangible Cultural Heritage 2013 – 2017, financed by the
Ministry of Culture of Republic of Macedonia
 Ongoing projects proposes by the licensed
Institutions for protecting and promoting the ICH in
Republic of Macedonia
- Digitalization of the archive of the Institute for
Folklore;
- Creating web page of ICH elements of the Republic
of Macedonia;
- Preparing movies about already enlisted ICH
elements on the National Registry

14. 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 broadcasted on the
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.

15. 7. The Cultural Heritage Protection Office has also carried out
activities for implanting Article 9 and 13 section b from the
Convention
 In November of 2008, 8 nongovernmental and non-profit
organizations from Macedonia were nominated for the
UNESCO List, 6 of which sent in written corroboration for
their participation in the list.
 Establishing the Coordinating Agency/Body for Intangible
Cultural Heritage Protection within the National Cultural
Heritage Council of the Ministry of Culture.

16. Ministry
of
culture
Cultural Heritage
Protection Office
Department for
Cultural activities,
Perform. arts and
Cultural heritage
Department for
Copyright and
Other Related
Rights
UNESCO
Macedonian
National
Commission
National Council for
cultural heritage
Board for protection
of
intangible heritage

17. New Challenges / Public Debates
 Replace the expression spiritual and cultural heritage
with intangible cultural heritage: the procedure is under
way and the new changes to the Cultural Heritage
Protection Law are to be approved this year;
 Completing the definitions of intangible cultural heritage
with the changes, since there are differences in the scope
of the term.

18. Public debates:
 Macedonian Composers Association, publicly supported by a number
of ethnomusicologists and ethnochoreologists have reacted to the
exclusion of Macedonian classical music from the definitions in the
Law.
 the Centre for Byzantine Studies and the Clement of Ohrid Faculty of
Theology from Skopje objected to the fact that none of the forms of
Byzantine chant – heirmologic, sticheraric, papadic, prosomia –were
considered when defining the intangible cultural heritage of the
Republic of Macedonia.
 In September 2009 in Struga there was a conference on this subject
 Special forum in March 2010
 Most print and electronic media supported this initiative, so these
suggestions should be validated, and we expect the abovementioned
intangible cultural goods to be included in domestic legislature.

19. Expecting the law to be expanded with an additional set of legal
mechanisms:
 Public accessibility of intangible goods;
 Transfer and nurture of cultural goods in original and other settings;
 Improvement of the function and social importance of the goods in
society and its inclusion in the planning processes and programmes;
 Securing of sustainability of the goods through education,
identification and documentation, academic research, preservation,
protection, improvement of their function in society, transferring
knowledge through formal and informal education and
revitalization of the neglected aspects of the goods;
 Popularization and promotion of cultural goods through exhibitions,
concerts, electronic media, audio and video recordings, etc.;
 Education of experts for the transfer of knowledge and skills at
seminars, workshop, etc.;
 Raising the awareness of the public which is expected to support the
safeguarding of goods in the processes of globalization and social
transformation so as to avoid the danger of disappearance,
destruction and commercialization of the goods.

20. 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

21. International cooperation and networking
1. In April, 2012, an international conference of the ICTM
Study group on Music and Dance in SEE was held. During
the conference, the 54 participants from SE Europe, as
well as from other parts of the world, ethnomusicologist,
ethnochoreologists and anthropologists who are working
on traditional music and dance of this region, had the
opportunity to enjoy presentation of traditional
Macedonian music and dance from eastern part of
republic of Macedonia.
 Mutual project with UNESCO National Commission of
Turkey - Sharing the same taste

23. International cooperation and networking
3. On initiative of Turkey, together with Croatia, Serbia, Romania and
Moldova, Republic of Macedonia participated in 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.
4. 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 Turkey UNESCO National Commission.
5. In June, 2013 Republic of Macedonia will participate in the preliminary
meeting which should take place in Bucharest, Romania, for preparing
a Multinational Nomination file of inscribing “Martinki” on the
UNESCO ICH Representative list. The initiative is taken by the
UNESCO National Commission of Romania.

24.  At the end of September, 2013, the
ICTMM National Committee of Macedonia
and the Ministry of Culture will organize a
concert of which ICH music and dance
elements from the region of SE Europe
will be presented. The event is part of
marking the 10th
anniversary of the
UNESCO ICH Convention.

25. Thank you