Places included in the UNESCO World Heritage List and the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists (List of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity) in Slovakia:

Cultural Monuments
Natural Monuments
Intangible Cultural Heritage

Cultural Monuments

• Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve – a small but exceptionally complete and well-preserved example of a fortified medieval town. Among other remarkable features, it also contains a small Jewish quarter around a fine 18th-century synagogue (bardejov.sk).
• Historic Town of Banská Štiavnica and the Technical Monuments in its Vicinity – the town of Banská Štiavnica is an old medieval mining centre that grew into a town with Renaissance palaces, 16^th-century churches, elegant squares and castles. The urban centre blends into the surrounding landscape, which contains vital relics of the mining and metallurgical activities in the past (banskastiavnica.sk).
• Levoča, Spišský Hrad and the Associated Cultural Monuments – “Spišský hrad” (Spiš castle) has one of the largest ensembles of 13^th- and 14^th-century military, political and religious buildings in Eastern Europe, and its Romanesque and Gothic architecture has remained remarkably intact (spisskyhrad.sk). The extended site features the addition of the historic town-centre of Levoča founded in the 13^th and 14^th centuries within fortifications. Most of the site has been preserved and it includes the 14^th-century Church of St. James with its ten alters of the 15^th and 16^th centuries, a remarkable collection of polychrome works in the Late Gothic style, including an 18.6-metre high altarpiece completed around 1510 by Master Paul of Levoča (www.levoca.sk).
• Vlkolínec – a Monument Reserve of Folk Architecture, located in the centre of Slovakia, is a remarkably intact settlement of 55 buildings with the traditional features of a Central European village. It is the region’s most complete group of these kinds of traditional log houses, often found in mountainous areas (vlkolinec.sk).
• Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of the Carpathian Mountain Area – two Roman Catholic, three Protestant and three Greek Orthodox churches built between the 16^th and 18^th The property presents good examples of a rich local tradition of religious architecture, marked by the meeting of Latin and Byzantine cultures. Interiors are decorated with paintings on the walls and ceilings and other works of art that enrich the cultural significance of the properties (whc.unesco.org).

Natural Monuments

• Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst – the variety of formations and the fact that they are concentrated in a restricted area means that more than 1,000 caves currently identified make up a typical temperate zone karstic system. Because they display an extremely rare combination of tropical and glacial climatic effects, they make it possible to study geological history over tens of millions of years. Caves listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List open to the public: Dobšinská Ice Cave, Domica Cave, Gombasecká Cave, Jasovská Cave, Krásnohorská Cave, Ochtinská Aragonite Cave (ssj.sk/en/jaskyne).
• Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe – these forests represent examples of ongoing postglacial biological and ecological evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, and are indispensable to the understanding of spreading of the beech in the Northern Hemisphere across a variety of environments. It is a transboundary property that stretches over 12 countries (whc.unesco.org).

Intangible Cultural Heritage

• Bagpipe culture – bagpipe culture consists of a wide range of expressions and knowledge associated with bagpipes and their use, including music repertoire, style and ornamentation, songs, dances, instrument-making, folk customs and traditions and special verbal expressions. The bagpipe tradition exists throughout Slovakia, with regional differences concerning technical details, tuning, ornaments and know-how, and corresponding songs and dance repertoire (ich.unesco.org).
• Blaudruck/Modrotisk/Kékfestés/Modrotlač, resist block printing and indigo dyeing in Europe – Blaudruck/Modrotisk/Kékfestés/ - Modrotlač, which translates directly as blueprint or blue-dyeing, refers to the practice of printing a dye-resistant paste onto a cloth before dyeing over it with indigo dye. The resistant paste prevents the dye from penetrating the design, thereby ensuring the applied design remains white or undyed after the dyeing process. To apply the designs onto the cloth, practitioners use hand-crafted blocks that are up to 300 years old, featuring regionally-inspired patterns as well as generic designs or Christian motifs. The representation of local flora and fauna is interrelated with the local culture of the regions. Traditional indigo blue-dyeing does not end with printing, however: the textile chain involves preparing the raw materials and spinning, weaving, finishing, printing and dyeing them. Nowadays, businesses engaged in the practice mainly comprise small, family-owned workshops, run by the second to the seventh generation of printers. Each family workshop involves the cooperation of the various family members, who each participate in every step of the production regardless of their gender. Traditional knowledge is still based on (mainly family-owned) journals dating back to the nineteenth century and passed on through observation and hands-on practice. Stakeholders feel a strong emotional bond with their products, and the element encapsulates a sense of pride in long-lasting family traditions (ich.unesco.org).
• Drotárstvo, wire craft and art – Drotárstvo, wire craft and art refers to the technique of manufacturing using wire. In the 18^th century, wire craftsmen discovered the interesting properties of wire and developed a simple technique based on manual bending, binding and interlacing metal fibres without welding or soldering, a technique still used to this day. Initially, wire art and craft was a complementary task performed by labourers to repair ceramics and cookware and produce and sell simple wire tools. In the 19^th century, the practice became an autonomous craft, and since the 20^th century, wire craftspeople have used wire to produce tools for daily use and art objects. As in the past, they react flexibly to the demands of the local market and enrich the traditional collection with new goods or art objects. The current range of materials also includes new types of wire used in unusual combinations with other previously unknown materials. Currently, the bearers and practitioners work mainly at the artistic level, selling their art products at various fairs, festivals, etc. Some practitioners come from families with a multi-generational tradition of transmitting these related skills, and there are also voluntary craft associations and clubs. The current practice develops old traditions and techniques to create new, beautiful forms, demonstrating its continued viability and respect for the old wire craftsmen (ich.unesco.org).
• Fujara and its music – fujara is an extremely long flute with three finger holes traditionally played by Slovak shepherds; it is regarded as an integral part of the traditional culture of Central Slovakia. It is not just a musical instrument, but also an artefact of great artistic value due to its highly elaborate, individual ornamentation. The main tube of the flute measures 160 – 200 cm and is connected to a shorter tube of 50 – 80 cm (ich.unesco.org).
• Multipart singing of Horehronie – the singing is characterised by a variable solo melody of pre-singing and more static choir answers, either by men or women. The singing culminates in intertwined parallel melodies with rich variations, consisting of two or three parts; each section presents a variation of the initial melodic formula (ich.unesco.org).
• Music of Terchová – the village of Terchová in north-west Slovakia is renowned for its collective vocal and instrumental music, performed by three-, four- or five-member string ensembles with a small two-string bass or diatonic button accordion. It is often accompanied by polyphonic singing and combined with folk dances. The musical tradition of Terchová also includes solo instrumental performances on shepherds’ fifes (ich.unesco.org).
• Puppetry in Slovakia – puppetry is not only a popular form of traditional entertainment but also a way of conveying a vision of the world and an education tool with messages on moral values. Puppets are usually made of wood and animated using various methods (ich.unesco.org).

More information: http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/sk, https://ich.unesco.org/en/lists