O registro do patrimônio cultural imaterial: as práticas do IPHAN e do IEPHA/MG

Cultural heritage is everything that has social meaning and represents identities, and can be divided into two main categories: tangible and intangible. The recognition of the intangible cultural heritage was built over a maturation process, expansion of debates, legislation and action of national and international public bodies. In Brazil, the 1988 Federal Constitution has incorporated, together with the tangible heritage, the various forms of expression, ways of creating, making and living, as intangible heritage, adopting new instruments for protecting cultural goods: the registry and the inventory. However, only by the Decree 3.551/2000 the intangible’s registration was definitely regulated. Gradually, there was the decentralization of legislation and public policies, and they have been shared between the Federal, State and Municipal governments and, in this sense, a peculiar case in the management of cultural heritage took place in the state of Minas Gerais, in which the State Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage (IEPHA/MG, acronym in Portuguese) had a valuable role in preserving the cultural heritage with, where the municipal actions for cultural heritage in the State rely on financial transfers, via distribution of Tax on Goods and Services (ICMS, acronym in Portuguese). This scenario provided a field for reflection and debate on the role and the function of this state agency with respect to the practices of identifying, appreciating and promoting the intangible heritage of Minas Gerais.