Burkina Faso · Metalwork / Blacksmithing
Not specifically documented under a standardized local term beyond general reference to Bronzes de Ouagadougou
The lost-wax casting of bronze sculpture, furniture, and decorative objects by craftspeople of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, originating in the Niongsin neighborhood, home to three founding families who first specialized in lost-wax casting of copper and bronze before the craft spread to become a major source of household income across the city. A beeswax model, sourced from northern Burkina Faso, is sculpted and coated in clay to form a mold; recycled metal — taps, screws, bolts, and other scrap — is melted at approximately 1,200°C in a melting pot dug into the ground, then poured into the fired mold once the wax has burned out, producing a unique piece each time since the mold is broken to extract the finished casting. Bronze-working now employs 13 percent of Ouagadougou's informal-sector workforce across 375 documented businesses and organizations, formally recognized through the city's UNESCO Creative Cities Network designation, and sustained through both traditional father-to-son apprenticeship and contemporary design collaborations such as Maison Intègre, which works with fifteen bronze craftspeople in the city to produce museum-quality contemporary furniture and objects.
Risk level: Endangered · Not independently inscribed as an intangible element; Ouagadougou itself is a UNESCO Creative City, with its official city profile specifically documenting the bronze-casting sector's origin, economic significance, and training infrastructure
The exclusively female craft of decorating earthen sukhala houses with geometric murals, practiced by the Kassena people of the Royal Court of Tiébélé in southern Burkina Faso, established in the 16th century and inscribed as a UNESCO…
The making of the conical Saponé hat from straw and tanned leather by the Moaga (Mossi) people of Saponé, a town roughly 30 kilometers south of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
The hand-spinning, dyeing, and narrow-strip weaving of cotton cloth on horizontal double-heddle looms by Mossi and Marka communities of Burkina Faso, historically worn by the Mogho Naaba (Mossi emperor) and elevated to a national political…
The malting, boiling, and fermenting of red sorghum into dolo, a mildly alcoholic traditional beer produced predominantly by women across Burkina Faso and historically prepared for traditional celebrations, funerals, and Independence Day.
The forging of the khukuri (kukri) — Nepal's iconic curved single-edged blade, internationally recognized through its association with Gurkha soldiers and, per Nepali blacksmiths themselves, described as the world's most famous knife.
The engraving of flattened copper sheet — often subsequently silver-plated — into decorative and ceremonial objects at Koh Chen and neighboring Prek Kdam villages in Kandal province, a craft distinct from the archive's existing Khmer…
Göwher (Гёвхер) — the term for the elaborate Turkmen silver jewelry tradition — produces the most visually complex nomadic jewelry system in Central Asia: large fire-gilded silver ornaments set with carnelian (akik), covering the head,…
The weaving of fine silver and gold thread and beads into intricate soldered jewelry designs, historically practiced in Tripoli's Old City medina, where craftsmen were originally trained by Jewish master silversmiths and later by Arab…
The Sarajevo Baščaršija craft tradition — the cluster of Ottoman-era artisan crafts maintained in the historic Baščaršija (old bazaar) quarter of Sarajevo whose specific street-by-street organization of craft guilds (kazandžije —…
Alka (Алқа — earring/ornament) refers to the Kazakh silver jewelry tradition — particularly the elaborate drop earrings that are the primary women's silver ornament.