In the 12th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, held from December 4 to December 8 in the South Korean capital of Seoul, Kamancheh was added to UNESCO list for Iran’s intangible cultural heritage.

Kamancheh (Persian word for ‘little bow') is a bowed string instrument which resembles a violin in that it is played by drawing a bow across the strings. It is used in rural and urban Iran in many celebrations and is also played in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and several other countries. The team sport of polo was another Iranian cultural heritage which was included in the list as a result of a proposal submitted by Iran.

Iran has so far had thirteen entries in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO some of which are multinational heritages such as Nowruz and Kamancheh.

Iran will not have any intangible cultural heritage in UNESCO list for 2018, since it did not meet the deadline of March 2017 for submitting the proposal to UNESCO.

Source: Mehr News