Can Liège’s 15 August folklore win UNESCO recognition?

Liège opposition group Vert Ardent renewed its call on 13 August for Belgium to seek UNESCO recognition for the folklore of the 15 August festivities in Outremeuse, placing an intensely local tradition on an international heritage agenda. The initiative remains a political proposal rather than a confirmed nomination: neither UNESCO’s published material nor the sources reviewed for this article establish that Belgium has submitted a file.

That distinction matters in Liège. UNESCO recognition is often described as a label, but inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity is not a prize that a municipal party can request directly. UNESCO requires a nomination from the state concerned, evidence that the practising communities participated and consented, inclusion in an appropriate national or regional inventory, and credible measures to safeguard transmission. In Belgium’s divided cultural system, the City of Liège would therefore need cooperation extending beyond the council chamber, notably from the tradition’s custodians and the competent French-speaking Belgian heritage authorities.

Vert Ardent’s proposal is not new. Its 2024 municipal programme said the group would work toward recognition of the festivities’ folklore as UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. The programme placed that objective alongside tourism and heritage plans for other Liège landmarks. The renewed appeal, reported by La DH ahead of the 2026 celebrations, brings the commitment back into public view, but the reporting available does not identify an approved timetable, budget or authority charged with preparing a nomination.

The living tradition is broader than one parade. Liège’s tourism office describes several days of concerts, games, flea-market activity and folkloric processions, with Tchantchès, Nanèsse and the giants occupying central roles. On 15 August, the Black Madonna procession is followed by Mass and a sermon in Walloon; the festivities close with the burlesque funeral of Matî l’Ohê. The Walloon public heritage portal Connaître la Wallonie similarly presents the celebration as a meeting of religious and secular practices, including illuminated potales, or small devotional niches.

For residents, organisers and visitors, the proposal raises a practical question: would international recognition help transmit those customs, or primarily market an already popular event? Vert Ardent’s programme connects UNESCO recognition with Liège’s attractiveness, making tourism and visibility part of its case. UNESCO’s own framework uses a different emphasis. Its inscription criteria centre on community participation, inventories and safeguarding measures that allow a practice to continue and be passed on.

A second perspective comes from the République Libre d’Outremeuse, the volunteer association closely associated with the festivities. In a 2022 RTBF profile, its members were described as committed to the “defence of the true folkloric traditions” of the neighbourhood, while then-president Francis Atta stressed transmission through families and older participants. That locally rooted understanding is not necessarily opposed to UNESCO status, but it implies that the association and other practitioners cannot be treated merely as supporters of a tourism dossier. Their consent and influence over how the tradition is defined would be central.

International recognition could bring attention and momentum for documentation, Walloon-language transmission, volunteer recruitment and the continuity of workshops, processions and puppetry. It could also create tension if institutions tried to freeze a changing neighbourhood culture into an official version. UNESCO inscription is intended to safeguard living heritage, not to declare one presentation authentic forever or confer ownership on a political authority.

Belgium already has experience with multinational intangible-heritage files: UNESCO inscribed funfair culture, submitted by Belgium and France, on its Representative List in 2024. That precedent illustrates both the international reach of everyday cultural practices and the administrative work behind inscription.

The next meaningful step would be evidence of a process jointly supported by Liège, the relevant Belgian cultural authorities and Outremeuse’s practising communities. As of 18 August, no publicly verified nomination, community consultation plan or official response from the City of Liège or the competent French-speaking heritage administration had been identified. Until those appear, UNESCO recognition remains an ambition rather than an application.