Lipizzan horse-breeding to become part of World Heritage?

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Together, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania requested Lipizzan horse-breeding to be added to UNESCO’S Intangible Cultural Heritage list at the end of 2017.

UNESCO is to decide about adding it to the list at their World Heritage Committee’s annual congress, in December of 2020, reported Sokszínű Vidék. The Slovenian government handed in the official application to UNESCO’s Parisian office.

The traditional breeding of Lipizzan horses is part of the Croatian cultural heritage in Baranya (Hungary), Slavonia and Syrmia (Croatia). Lipica horses are still bred in all the countries taking part in the joint application for World Heritage status.

Archduke Charles II created the breeding ground in 1580, in Lipike – Lipica today –, a part of the then-Habsburg Empire. The noble horses became famous in the Habsburg Imperial courtyard.