EXTENSION OF THE INSCRIPTION of the Art of dry stone on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list, adopted on 5th December 2024 by the Nineteenth session of the Intergovernmental Committee of UNESCO in Asunción, Paraguay.
Since Thursday 5 December 2024, the community concerned by ‘the art of dry stone construction: skills and techniques’ has officially included thirteen members:
Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland, who presented and obtained the inscription of the art to the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2018 (inscription pronounced the 28th November 2018 during the 13th intergovernmental committee of the UNESCO held in the Island Saint-Maurice), Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, who presented and obtained the extension of this inscription in 2024 (extension pronounced the 5th December 2024 during the 19th intergovernmental committee of UNESCO held in Asunción Paraguay).
The SPS initiated and monitored these networks and participated in the drafting of the various documents. Our international congresses have been the place for contacts, consultations, decisions, assessments and cooperation. Dozens of colleagues and friends are to be thanked for this, and the number of people interested in and affected by the art of dry-stone building remains incalculable.
Dry stone unites us with each other and with the world. This is echoed in the last words of the film that concludes the inscription:
‘… there is strength when we come together…’.
