01749nas a2200229   4500000000100000000000100001008004100002653002400043653003100067653001800098653001900116653001400135653001700149653001100166100001900177245010400196856015000300300001100450490000700461520103100468022002001499                                       d10aintangible heritage10aInternational organisation10aJemaa el Fná10aJuan Goytisolo10aMarrakech10aMorocco (MA)10aUNESCO1 aThomas Schmitt00aThe UNESCO Concept of Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage: Its Background and Marrakchi Roots  uhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-51249127983&doi=10.1080%2f13527250701844019&partnerID=40&md5=97178991b13536fb86725d82be4e25cd  a95-1110 v143 aIn 1998 UNESCO started a programme for the proclamation of  Masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity , a pre-project for the new UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Jemaa el Fna Square in Marrakech was one of the first Masterpieces proclaimed by UNESCO in 2001. This paper examines the genesis and history of this new UNESCO concept of safeguarding intangible heritage. The Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo gave the decisive impulse for the new UNESCO concept in 1996 in order to safeguard Jemaa el Fna Square in Marrakech. Worrying that contemporary plans of local authorities would definitely change the character of the square and destroy its cultural traditions, Goytisolo asked UNESCO to proclaim the square as  oral heritage of humanity . The wish to protect Jemaa el Fna Square on the one hand, and the existing Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage on the other, can be seen as two reference points for the new UNESCO concept.  a13527258 (ISSN)