From “tradition” to “intangible heritage”: Kraków’s nativity-scene craft

The article presents three main stages in the history of the Kraków nativity-scene craft. First, the stage prior to institutionalization, covering the oldest history of nativity-scene making; second, the stage of institutionalization, initiated by the organization of the first competition for the most beautiful nativity scene in Kraków in 1937; and third, the UNESCO-ization of the nativity-scene craft, inaugurated by the inclusion of the Kraków nativity-scene (szopka) tradition on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2018. © 2019, Polska Akademia Nauk. All rights reserved.