'Top Sleeve Embroidery Folk Blouse - Ia' file to be completed by March 2021 for submission to UNESCO

Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate's Joint Standing Committee on liaison with UNESCO, deputy Ionel Palar, said on Wednesday that the 'Top Sleeve Embroidery Folk Blouse - Ia' file will be ready by March 2021 and will be submitted to UNESCO.

Every year on June 24, the Day of the Romanian fairies Sânziene and of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist, the Universal Ia Day is also celebrated, honoring ''the most representative piece of the Romanian folk costume, which confers Romania cultural individuality," the Chamber of Deputies said in a statement.

"The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate's Joint Standing Committee on liaison with UNESCO has taken all the steps for the Romanian folk blouse 'ia' to be inducted to the World Heritage of Humanity. The initial deadline for the completion of the file 'The Art of the Top Sleeve Embroidery Folk Blouse - Ia, a Cultural Identity Element in Romania and the Republic of Moldova', that is slated for submission to UNESCO, was 2018. The deadline was however missed because of the long interruption of the activity of the Culture Ministry's National Commission for Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage due to lack of funding. Me and the colleagues from the parliamentary Committee on liaison with UNESCO had several interventions to unblock the file, and today, June 24, 2020, I am glad that the experts of the National Commission for Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage have started field research and video shooting for the necessary documentation to UNESCO. The same steps are being taken in the Republic of Moldova for the global recognition of the history and tradition of the top sleeve embroidery folk blouse," said Palar.

He pointed out that the file 'The Art of the Top Sleeve Embroidery Folk Blouse - Ia, a Cultural Identity Element in Romania and the Republic of Moldova' will be completed by March 2021, when it will be submitted to UNESCO.

"It is a common project that steers clear from all unnecessary vanity and disputes, because no one would forgive us if another 'traditional blouse' from the Balkans would make it to the UNESCO World Heritage before the 'top sleeve embroidery blouse'. This cultural heritage is the merit of those who have passed down from generation to generation, with love and dedication, the art of making the Romanian 'ia'. We have a moral obligation to carry this art further, to protect and promote this unique treasure worldwide," he said.