The Intermunicipal Community of the Region of Aveiro (CIRA) has announced that the nomination “Moliceiro Boat: Art of Naval Carpentry of the Region of Aveiro” is “the only proposal selected to represent Portugal in the 2025 UNESCO process, highlighting the need for its Urgent Safeguarding”.
The final decision will be revealed at the 20th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO, taking place from December 8 to 13 in India.
The official CIRA delegation to the UNESCO Committee session will be led by Jorge Almeida, president of the intermunicipal council, accompanied by Januário Cunha and António Loureiro.
Documentation available on UNESCO’s website indicates that besides the moliceiros for the urgent safeguarding list, Portugal has no nominations for the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list at the December committee session.
Initiated by CIRA, the Moliceiro Boat was already enlisted in 2022 in the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
“In addition to its identity character, the nomination aims to enhance a tourism product with international promotional capacity”.
In the 1970s, there were 3,000 moliceiro boats registered operating in the Ria de Aveiro; however, it is estimated that slightly more than 50 remain, half of which are dedicated to tourist exploitation in the urban channels of the Ria.
Documentation on the UNESCO website notes that despite being viewed as a practice representative of regional identity, only five master moliceiro builders are active, four of whom are over 60 years old.
The UNESCO nomination includes a detailed list of proposals to reverse the situation, such as engaging with the school community to better understand this practice and installing electric motors in the tourist boats.
One unique aspect of the moliceiro boats is the paintings on the stern and bow: “the prow is the monumental part of the moliceiro, where figures, drawings, and captions are exclusive, unmatched in any known navigation style,” wrote Jaime Vilar in a book dedicated to this vessel.
In this work, Vilar categorizes the captions on the prow as “satirical, humorous and erotic”, “religious”, “romantic, bawdy and picaresque”, and “professional, moral and historical”.
The author, drawing on data collected from artisans, describes that a moliceiro measures an average of “15 meters in length, displaces about five tons, and has a flat bottom with a shallow draft, a feature allowing it to navigate where keeled boats cannot pass”.
According to the public institute Cultural Heritage, Portugal has eight manifestations listed as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, two on the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding list, and one record of Best Safeguarding Practices.
The two entries on the urgent safeguarding list are the black pottery of Bisalhães and the manufacture of cowbells.
