"Intangible heritage cannot be destroyed with a pickaxe"

From May 23 to 27, the Almouggar Foundation and UNESCO are organising the 11th Tan-Tan Moussem, classified in 2005 as a Masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Centuries old, this annual meeting of nomadic tribes, institutionalised in 2004, is an event that illustrates the collective memory associating the various aspects of life in the desert.At a time when in some countries archaeological remains thousands of years old are being destroyed, destructions favoured by the rise of intolerance, the Tan-Tan Moussem is being held in Morocco, declared in 2005 a Masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity. "Fortunately, intangible heritage cannot be destroyed with a pickaxe. Heritage is not limited to sites or objects, but it is also what we have inherited from our ancestors as knowledge, know-how, and rituals. The objectives of this moussem join those of UNESCO," stressed, F…