Abstract

The protection of cultural heritage in times of conflict should not be confined to material cultural heritage. After World Wars ended, cultural heritage experts focused on protecting movable or immovable cultural property from damage, as reflected in the Hague Convention and its Protocols. This task is obviously quite important for preserving collective identity, but it is not the only one. The cultural heritage concept has expanded considerably in recent decades, and nowadays intangible cultural heritage is also considered very relevant in representing a community's identity, and therefore it should be also protected during and after the emergencies.In addition, social experts in cultural heritage are only recently considered in a field which was exclusively a topic of architects, conservators and planners. That inclusion has generated a new perspective into cultural heritage, focusing on the role of the communities and promoting the study of intangible cultural heritage. In this article, we document the importance for the developing countries to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage in times of conflict.