Germany · Manuscript conservation; Paper craft; Baden heritage
Konservierung der Codex Manesse und Heidelberger Handschriften
The conservation of the Heidelberg manuscript collection — centered on the Codex Manesse (c.1300–1340), the largest and most lavishly illuminated medieval German-language manuscript in existence, containing 137 full-page miniature paintings of Minnesingers (medieval German lyric poets). The Codex Manesse conservation extends the Gutenberg Bible transmitted-light vellum assessment (CRAFT-1214) into illuminated manuscript territory, where the additional challenge is the conservation of the gold-leaf miniature paintings alongside the vellum text leaves — requiring a combined transmitted-light vellum assessment and a raking-light gold-leaf assessment.
Risk level: Stable · Not listed as ICH; the Codex Manesse is on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register
The making of the concert zither (Konzertzither) — the Alpine plucked string instrument with 4–5 melody strings over a fretted fingerboard and 29–37 open accompaniment strings across the soundboard, whose specific acoustic character is…
The making of Allgäuer Emmentaler — the large-format (80–120kg) hard cheese of the Allgäu Alpine region, one of the few Emmentaler traditions outside Switzerland (and the German counterpart to the Portuguese São Jorge CRAFT-1138 in the…
A complement to the Munich lager brewing record (CRAFT-1191), documenting the distinctly different yeast management tradition of Bavarian Weissbier (wheat beer) — the top-fermenting beer style specifically protected in Bavaria until 1798…
The hand embroidery of the traditional Bavarian Dirndl (women's folk dress) and associated Trachten costume elements — including the characteristic floral and botanical motifs of the apron, bodice, and blouse embroidery that together…
The goldsmithing and silversmithing tradition of Augsburg — the pre-eminent German precious metals city from the 15th to 18th centuries, whose master goldsmiths produced the most celebrated table silver and ceremonial goldwork in the Holy…
The making of Lederhosen — the traditional knee-length or short buckskin leather breeches of Bavaria and the Alpine regions, now the most internationally recognized German folk costume garment and experiencing significant commercial…
A relief printmaking technique in which an Inuit printmaker carves away the surface of a flattened stone block to leave a raised design translated from an artist's original drawing, then inks and hand-prints the design onto paper,…
The Viennese bookbinding tradition — the production of the distinctive full leather bindings with gold-tooled decoration that were the defining luxury book objects of the Habsburg Imperial court library, and the broader tradition of fine…
A contemporary practice transforming Arabic calligraphy into monumental architectural and sculptural form, developed by Emirati painter, calligrapher, photographer, sculptor, and designer Mattar Bin Lahej, whose work has become an integral…
Traditional stone lithography, woodcut, and metal-plate etching printmaking centered on the Taller Experimental de Gráfica de La Habana (TEG), Cuba's oldest and premier printmaking studio, founded in 1962.
Barriletes gigantes are the colossal tissue-paper-and-bamboo kites constructed annually by community teams in Santiago Sacatepéquez and Sumpango, Kaqchikel Maya towns roughly 30–40 kilometers from Guatemala City, and raised each All…
A chisel-and-mallet paper-cutting technique developed in San Salvador Huixcolotla, Puebla, in which artisans stack up to fifty sheets of colored tissue paper and punch elaborate symmetrical designs through the entire stack at once,…