Germany · Thatching; Roofing; North German heritage
Reetdachdecken — Schleswig-Holsteinisches Rietdeckerhandwerk
The reed thatching tradition of Schleswig-Holstein — the craft that creates and maintains the distinctive thick, steeply pitched reed roofs of the Frisian farmhouses and coastal cottages that define the visual character of the North Frisian and Dithmarschen landscape. The Rietdecker reads the correct reed bundling tightness through a combined compression-and-release test, ensuring the bundle will provide the correct roof density for the 30–40 year lifespan expected of quality Reetdach work.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Reetdachdecken is UNESCO ICH Germany (2016)
The wood carving tradition of the Black Forest — producing the characteristic carved figurines, reliefs, and decorative objects whose subject vocabulary (hunters, Black Forest farmers, animals of the forest, religious figures) is closely…
The hand-splitting of Rhenish slate (Mayen-Kottenheimer Schiefer or Moselle slate) into roofing tiles — a tradition central to the visual character of the Rhine and Mosel valley historic townscapes, whose steep-roofed slate-tiled historic…
The coppersmithing tradition of the Moselle Valley — the production of copper wine vessels, funnels, straining equipment, and decorative cellar objects that has served the Mosel wine industry (CRAFT-1203) for centuries.
The conservation of Gutenberg Bibles and other early printed books (incunabula) at the Gutenberg Museum Mainz — the world center for the documentation and conservation of Johann Gutenberg's moveable type printing tradition.
A supplement record documenting the sandstone conservation of the Porta Nigra and the Imperial Baths (Kaiserthermen) in Trier — the external stone conservation counterpart to the internal Roman mosaic consolidation documented in CRAFT-1210.
The construction of the Zille — the traditional flat-bottomed Rhine and Rhine tributary river boat used by fishermen, ferry operators, and river workers, sharing the flat-bottomed shallow-draft logic documented for the Aveiro moliceiro…
The reed thatching tradition of East Anglia — the application of Norfolk reed (Phragmites australis) to create the characteristic deep, sculpted thatched roofs of the Suffolk and Norfolk countryside, the densest concentration of thatched…
The annual, citywide hand-replastering of the Great Mosque of Djenné, the world's largest mud-brick building, by the entire community of Djenné under the direction of the Barey-Ton (masons' guild), an ancient institution that transmits its…
A trio of traditional earthen building techniques — bahareque (a woven mud, wood, and cane/bamboo wattle-and-daub system), adobe (sun-dried mud brick), and tapia (rammed earth) — that together define the historic architecture of Coro,…
The Bade is the multi-tiered ceremonial tower constructed for Balinese Hindu cremation ceremonies (Ngaben) — the most elaborate temporary ritual structure in any documented craft tradition.
A distinctive timber-frame carpentry tradition that produced the plain, symmetrical, white-painted wooden buildings of Paramaribo's historic inner city, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002 specifically for representing the…
The construction of fortified earthen kasbahs and ksour (walled villages) using pisé — a compacted mixture of local earth, clay, straw, and water, packed layer by layer into wooden formwork and pounded until it hardens like soft stone.