Museum seeks to put Estonia's Tori horse on UNESCO list
The Estonian Rural Museums Foundation is aiming to get the Tori horse breed added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
The song and dance festivals and Kihnu cultural space are already featured on the list and now it is the turn of the Tori horse, which has already been given the green light to try.
Merike Lang, a member of the foundation's board, said while the Tori horse breed has been studied by biologists and breeders, inclusion in the list will take its traditions and heritage into account and introduce them to a wider audience.
"We also see the community behind it, we see the people behind it, their identities, their attitudes, their values, and the tremendously long history that the breeding of the Tori horse as a cultural horse has actually gone through in almost 170 years," said Lang.
The Tori horse breed originated in the Tori horse farm in Pärnu County and there are around 1,000 in Estonia.
"In 1894, a stallion was brought in called Hetman, and Hetman is where it all began. Hetman's work continues to the present day and these are the horses, the Tori horses, that we and other breeders across Estonia have," said the museum's Agris Juhkov.
It could take several years for UNESCO to make a decision.
"Applications are made by the state and take a couple of years. But there is a queue now, so the entry in the Estonian Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventory will be ready before then, and then we can look ahead," said Leelo Viita, head of the Estonian Folk Culture Center's Intangible Cultural Heritage department.
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Editor: Merili Nael, Helen Wright
Source: Aktuaalne kaamera