Gardens and Landscapes: At the Hinge of Tangible and Intangible Heritage

The scope of intangible cultural heritage related to human well-being is large. Many cultural practices, if not the majority of them, were designed by communities, groups and individuals for well-being purposes, be it physical or mental. Such practices are also intended to ensure the continuity of the society over time and to maintain social order. According to Napier, those practices related to human body and soul are embodied in cultural systems of value (Napier 2014) that overwhelm them. The representations of those two components of the human being, body and soul, are tightly linked in traditional cultures. Thus, many cultural practices were designed for the well-being of both of them. They also mix therapies intended to bring about the relief of each and/or both. Traditional pharmacopeia, music, dance, prayers and rituals are often used in combination in order to help patients recover from actual or psychosomatic diseases. Nevertheless, part of social and cultural practices is more likely conceived to deal with human health in various ways. The fourth of the five main domains defined in article 2.2 of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage is “Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe”.1 This obviously covers a large range of topics and themes, encompassing diverse knowledge, know-how and practices intended to provide humans with the means to better define their place in their environment and, more broadly, in the whole universe. One could expect that nominations for inscription on the four mechanisms of the 2003 Convention,2 mainly the two lists defined in articles 16 and 17, were to deal with more or less traditional medical knowledge. After verification, this does not seem to be the case. As a matter of fact, the elements related to this area of knowledge and the practices inscribed on the lists are very few. No programme, and no project or activity was selected on the Register of best safeguarding practices set up by the Convention under article 18. No international assistance was approved by the Committee concerning a project in that field. This paper focuses on those inscribed elements which are explicitly related to medical knowledge and, more broadly, to human health. It is based on the information contained in files of nominations which can be accessed on the UNESCO website dedicated to the 2003 Convention. The paper will first present, in brief terms, the elements which fall under that domain, and discuss the main issues raised as well as the potential developments.