Türkiye's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, on behalf of a working group from Romania, Albania, and Türkiye, submitted this week the multinational file “Oya / Hemline Decoration, the Traditional Practice of Embellishing” for inclusion on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Romania's working group included representatives of NGOs engaged in preserving traditional practices related to the creation of traditional clothing items, with Semne Cusute, a Tracks4Crafts partner, playing a central role in coordinating the complex process of identifying and documenting this technique.

“As part of the European research project Tracks4Crafts, the Semne Cusute Association carried out a process of identifying and analysing valuable representative pieces from museum collections, ranging from the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, the Folk Art Museum in Constanța, and the Botoșani County Museum, to emblematic museums abroad, where the age and continuity of this technique can be traced,” the Ministry of Culture informed.

This association was joined by the “Mandra Project” (Contemporary Dowry) NGO from the Făgăraș area and the “ART – Meșteșugurile Prutului” Association from Iași, the only NGO in Romania accredited under the 2003 UNESCO Convention, together with the Turkish-Tatar ethnic community, represented by the “Cusături Dobrogene” Association and the Democratic Turkish-Tatar Union.

Ioana Baskerville, President of the National Commission for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage and focal point for the 2003 UNESCO Convention, provided technical support for this initiative.