Traditional technique of dry stone wall construction declared cultural heritage

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Croatia protects the traditional technique of building dry stone walls as a cultural heritage.

After a period of preventive protection of three years, the traditional construction technique of dry stone walls (suhozid) received permanent protection as intangible cultural heritage of Croatia. The request was sent in June 2016, and for this new step in the protection of the technique, the most important question was to include in the submission a list of people and organizations who practice it. The Dragodid association, which continues the tradition, launched a public call via its website and Facebook page so that people who practice the technique can apply. The campaign lasted two months, and in the end they collected the contact details of 98 natural persons and 19 legal persons.

Among all the applicants, the Association chose 35 + 18 names to be included in the list of practitioners of the technique. The key was the experience of the candidates, where they live and their willingness to make their knowledge available to others. The turnout from Island of Rab was particularly impressive, and the following map shows other ‘hot spots’.

The map shows the initial situation and will be updated over time, as there are people who learn skills in building dry stone walls, as well as others who stop practicing it for various reasons. Updating the list is a duty of local conservation services, and those who wish to be included on the list should send their requests directly to their conservation services or the Dragodid Association. However, such official lists never fully reflect the real situation on the ground, as many people practice the techniques more informally.

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As for “cultural protection” itself, the shift from preventive protection to permanent protection does not change much. It is always possible to submit a proposal for the popularization, promotion, transfer, study and documentation of individual cultural goods in the framework of an annual public competition announced by the Ministry of Culture (usually during the months of summer; financial support is usually around 20,000 kuna). The major change is a stronger emphasis on cross-sectoral cooperation and the integration of the protection of cultural landscapes and the intangible skills that created them.

Anyone with diverse ideas related to the technique of dry stone wall construction should start considering a specific and useful project and get down to writing their proposals. It would be better to base the projects around people from the local communities involved in the construction of the dry stone walls.


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