Intangible Cultural Heritage as a Subject of Protection of the Historical Settlement: Reflections on the Subject of Protection

Abstract

The question of the legality and the need to introduce the concept of "intangible cultural heritage" in the protection of the historical settlement is being considered. At the same time, the legality of extending the concept of "protection" to historical settlements is being analyzed. The wording of the concept of "intangible cultural heritage" adopted at the UNESCO General Conference in 2003 (Convention on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage) is being analysed. The article notes some incorrectness of the adopted document. In particular, the Convention, when listing areas of intangible heritage, does not refer to the carriers of "cultural spaces..." which are defined in the definition of "intangible cultural heritage". Introduced as an indicator of intangible heritage, the "cultural space" in relation to the settlement is associated with the concept of "protection object", one of the indicators of the historical settlement.

The very concept of "protection" borrowed from cultural heritage sites is considered. It is noted that the debate among experts about the concept of "protection" is still going on. but they do not affect the subject of protection of the historic settlement. It seems that there are no claims to it (the subject of settlement protection) and this is when the transfer of criteria from the OCN (cultural heritage object) to the settlement is categorically wrong and simply illiterate. Of course, in the types of OCN there is such a large territorial object as a landmark place (more DM), which allowed the legislator to make such an incorrect entry into the legislation.

Based on the study, it is concluded that the intangible cultural heritage in the historical settlement should be recognized as the subject of its protection and be among the other city-forming features of the historical settlement.