A cultural heritage seminar entitled “Intangible Heritage: Identities and Intercultural Heritage in the Mediterranean Region” was held at the Golden Tulip Vivaldi Hotel in St Julian’s yesterday.
It was organised by the Local Councils Association, in collaboration with the management committee of the MEDINS project, which is committed to safeguarding and promoting awareness of the Euro-Mediterranean’s cultural heritage.
The seminar discussed ways of improving the cultural product in the Mediterranean, particularly that deriving from intangible heritage and ways of making it a stronger contributor to the socio-economic development of areas forming part of the Mediterranean region.
Jess Marsh, a consultant working in the town of Bagheria in Sicily, said towns and cities in the Mediterranean had to be more innovative and make the most of linkage and synergy.
He said people living in the Mediterranean should work on the three Ts - tolerance, technology and talent, to compete with central and northern European countries that are moving ahead at a very fast pace.
Countries like Finland are not only moving ahead in areas related to technology, but also in sectors like cultural heritage, so Mediterranean countries really must seek ways to catch up, he said.
On a different note, Catherine Tabone, from Heritage Malta, spoke about TRIMED, an EU part-funded project devised to safeguard, interpret and promote a common heritage, with particular focus on the culture of bread, oil and wine in the Mediterranean.
TRIMED is a project conducted in collaboration with six Mediterranean islands, namely Corsica, Cyprus, Malta, Majorca, Naxos and Sicily.
Ms Tabone said the project was designed to recover the collective memory of intangible heritage linked to the production of bread, oil and wine from their respective raw materials.
TRIMED will also study and create awareness on the whole process related to these three products synonymous with the Mediterranean diet.
Ms Tabone said Heritage Malta was particularly proud that it had managed to document the Maltese names of the different parts forming a typical windmill.
From pinnur (wind vane), to dawwara (brake wheel or cog wheel), maggura (main sail), bur/bonnijiet (heavy ropes or cables) and kultellazz (smaller sail), just to pick a few.
This may possibly be seen as a small achievement, but it is certainly a step in the right direction to safeguard parts of intangible heritage that would otherwise have been lost forever.
Other main speakers delved into other aspects related to intangible heritage in the Mediterranean region, including carnival, vegetation and even traditional irrigation systems.
Roberto Albergoni, from Herimed, the association for the documentation, preservation and enhancement of Euro-Mediterranean cultural heritage, said the point of departure must be that of acknowledging culture as a value in itself.
“After acquiring this value, we would then be able to work on our area’s socio-economic development, but culture must be seen, first and foremost, as a means that will help us grow, live better lives and as a tool to exchange knowledge between peoples.
Developing our identity means that we recognise ourselves as being part of a group, by means of which we can then understand where we have come from and where we are heading,” he said.