LABORATORY FOR DIGITIZATION OF INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE
INSTITUTE OF ETHNOLOGY AND FOLKLORISTICS WITH ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM – BAS
The Laboratory for Digitization of Intangible Cultural Heritage was established within the framework of the National Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IEFSEM – BAS). The center consists of an archive and a library, with the archive collection containing a rich collection of empirical folklore materials – audio recordings, video recordings, photographs, and texts. The documents represent the universal spheres of folklore and cultural traditions: verbal, ritual and festive (calendar, family, labor, etc.), musical (song, instrumental), dance, folk arts, and visual forms.
The accumulated mass of archival materials is the result of the research work of the institute's collaborators, student expeditions, personal archives, and collections of prominent Bulgarian and foreign folklorists and local historians. They represent all regions of the country, as well as the Bulgarian community abroad – the historical diaspora in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, etc., and the new waves of migration to Western Europe, North and South America. Materials representing cultural traditions in a European and global context are also preserved.
Within the framework of the "Heritage BG" consortium (Project BG05M2OP001-1.001-0001), the Laboratory for the Digitization of Intangible Cultural Heritage was established, resulting in the digitization of a significant volume of audio, video, and photo documents, as well as text documents.
In the second phase of project BG16RFPR002-1.014-0011 "Sustainable Development of the Heritage BG Center of Excellence," funded under the "Scientific Research, Innovation, and Digitization for Smart Transformation" program 2021–2027, the laboratory continues its activities related to the digitization of archival documents, including materials documented in the 1980s, within the framework of the "Prof. Iv. Shishmanov" student club at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"; the documentation on the National System "Living Human Treasures – Bulgaria," which was added to the archive as a result of the joint work of the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria.
As a result of the system's operation, a significant volume of documents has been collected, representing the diversity of knowledge, skills, and practices related to the various aspects of intangible cultural heritage—traditional singing and playing, traditional storytelling, rituals and celebrations, traditional crafts, household activities, and livelihoods. The project also includes the digitization of field recordings from the Razgrad region, which contain information about traditional singing and verbal folklore from the region, documented between 1985 and 1991.
Author of the text: Dr. Milena Lyubenova (IEFEM-BAS)
