Belarusian paper-cutting art on UNESCO intangible heritage list

Belarusian paper-cutting has been included in the list of intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO. Such a decision was made on December 4 at the meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity now includes " Vycinanka - traditional art of papermaking in Belarus", BelTA informs.

Vycinanka is the art of cutting lace from white and colored paper. It spread in the folk life of Belarusians in the middle of the 19th century (and appeared earlier) - houses were decorated with vycinanka. It was restored in our country at the end of the twentieth century as a kind of decorative and applied art and is found all over Belarus. The art of vytynanka has received the status of intangible historical and cultural heritage in our country.

There are already six Belarusian elements in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage. In 2022 the Belarusian straw weaving was added to it. Before that the Kalyadnya Tsary ritual, the Yurauski Karagod spring ritual, the Budslau festival and the Belarusian beekeeping culture were included in the list.