ФОРМИРАЊЕ И РАД ЦЕНТРА ЗА НЕМАТЕРИЈАЛНО КУЛТУРНО НАСЛЕЂЕ СРБИЈЕ ПРИ ЕТНОГРАФСКОМ МУЗЕЈУ У БЕОГРАДУ: ПОЗИЦИОНИРАЊЕ У НАЦИОНАЛНОМ СИСТЕМУ ОЧУВАЊА ЖИВОГ НАСЛЕЂА
ESTABLISHMENT AND ACTIVITIES OF THE CENTER FOR INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF SERBIA AT THE ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM IN BELGRADE: POSITIONING WITHIN THE NATIONAL SYSTEM OF PRESERVATION OF LIVING HERITAGE

Summary/Abstract: The paper examines the introduction of the system of safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in the Republic of Serbia through the prism of establishment and scope of activities of the Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage of Serbia at the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade. The implementation of the UNESCO Convention has caused adjustments in activities of safeguarding-related institutions so that they would match the new concept of heritage, but also, what is even more important, the introduction of heritage holders and the local community as new participants and equal partners who work with institutions and experts in order to identify, document, present, protect and transmit the living heritage. UNESCO’s concept of preserving intangible cultural heritage posed a challenge to conservation institutions, primarily museums, in the form of harmonizing the paradigm of conservation and the paradigm of safeguarding, which included adjusting the work of experts in these institutions so persons formerly considered informants, treated as holders by the concept of living heritage, would be maximally included in presentation of their own heritage. In that sense, the Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage set a good example through the activities that accompanied the exhibition “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Serbia”, where it represented a bridge between the public and the bearers of heritage. In its almost ten years of activities, the Center has managed to position itself as a central expert body responsible for implementing the Convention at the national level in scope of defining the methodology for identifying and documenting this type of heritage, as well as in adopting expert guidelines for conservation institutions in Serbia. It also has a most important role in monitoring and implementing the international mechanisms for safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage through active work on entries on the UNESCO Representative List. As these international mechanisms represent the most visible way of manifesting the principle of preservation of living heritage, based on interdisciplinary and diverse structure of relevant entities, the activities on inscriptions in the UNESCO list are a confirmation of the success of the established system.

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