The XIV Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Unesco has decided to include in its list the Talaverana ceramic technique alleging reasons such as the particular of its decoration, enamelling or own identity.

At its meeting in Bogotá, Unesco argues to defend its decision that in Talavera and El Puente del Arzobispo, as well as in the Mexican cities of Puebla and Tlaxcala, "there are two communities of artisans who manufacture traditional ceramic objects using traditional methods. talaverano for domestic, decorative and architectural uses ".

Although pottery techniques have evolved both in Mexico and in Spain, particularly with the use of electric lathes, "the manufacturing, decoration and enamelling procedures of this type of pottery remain artisanal and identical to those practiced in the 16th century. ".

The theoretical and practical knowledge related to this element of living cultural heritage "includes the preparation of clay, its modeling with a lathe or a mold, the ornamentation of the patterned piece, the preparation of pigments and enamel and cooking in the oven, operations all of which require great skill. "

"Some potters and potters perform all stages of manufacturing and others specialize in some specific tasks. For the most part, the depositories of the knowledge related to this artisanal manufacturing - including those related to the extraction of raw material, the processing of the materials, the decoration and the cooking techniques - are master potters and potters who have acquired their skills over time and have transmitted them orally to the younger generations, either in their workshops or within their families ", they assert.

Likewise, they put in value that each workshop "has its own identity that manifests itself in specific details of the modeling, ornamentation, colors and enamels of the pieces". "The handmade manufacture of this peculiar type of pottery is an essential identity symbol in Mexico and in Spain," Unesco concludes.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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