All photos provided by the Cultural Heritage Administration

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Maria Kim sayart2022@gmail.com 

 

“Talchum (Korean: 탈춤), mask dance drama in the Republic of Korea” has at last made it into the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The decision was made in the morning of November 30, 2022 local time at the 17th Session of the Inter-Governmental Committee under way in Rabat, the Kingdom of Morocco from November 28 to December 3, 2022. 

The UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Committee stated that the message of Talchum of the universal equality value and criticism of social hierarchy is still relevant today and praised its role as a symbol of respective cultural identities its variant forms represent.

The inscription is the result of the joint efforts from the early stages of preparation among the Cultural Heritage Administration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the City of Andong, Gyungbuk Province, 18 safeguarding associations and the World Federation of Mask Culture whose membership includes heritage transmitters of those listed on either the national list or provincial lists of ICH.

The successful nomination of Talchum will serve as an excellent precedent of close cooperation between the private and public sectors in publicizing Korea’s traditional culture to the rest of the world.

Following inscription, the number of Korea’s elements of the UNESCO’s ICH inventory grows to 22. The Korean government, states it will make continuous efforts to promote cultural diversity and creativity of humanity in the spirit of the UNESCO Convention of Safeguarding ICH.