At the 19th session of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Ukrainian pysanka was officially recognized as a cultural heritage of humanity. This was reported by Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications.
The committee session took place in the Paraguayan capital, Asunción. The application for recognition of the pysanka was submitted jointly by Ukraine and Estonia.
“This is our shared success, confirming the strength of our unity. At the same time, the aggressor is destroying our culture, monuments, theaters, libraries, and museums. Our artists—the bearers of living heritage—are dying in the fight for their homeland. Their loss undermines the very core of our identity. Without people, living heritage does not exist. Yet we prove that even in the darkest times, we remain indomitable”, - said Mykola Tochytskyi, head of Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications, in a video address.
The Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity now includes 611 elements from five regions and 140 state parties to the Convention. From Ukraine, this list also features:
"Petrykivka decorative painting as a phenomenon of Ukrainian ornamental folk art" (2013),
"Tradition of Kosiv painted ceramics" (2019), and
"Ornek—Crimean Tatar ornament and its knowledge" (2021).