Head of the United Nations Office for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Siniša Šešum, confirmed to FENA that the UNESCO Intangible Heritage Committee decided today to enlist the “Picking the Iva tea herb on Mount Ozren”  on the Representative List of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

As Šešum explained, "Picking of Iva herb on Mount Ozren" is the third inscription from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has been registered on the Representative List of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Earlier, Zmijanje Embroidery and Konjic Woodcarving have also been enlisted.

Congratulating the citizens of BiH on this decision, he said that this is evidence that BiH is doing everything necessary to implement the 2003 Convention on the Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

“What is very important is that now one such important element of the intangible cultural heritage will be seen in some other light and more attention will be paid to its protection and promotion, especially sharing it with  future generations,” concluded Šešum.

The population of the villages on Mount Ozren near Doboj preserved for much longer, in comparison with its neighbors, a considerable number of traditional elements in the original form, among them some forms of folk medicine, and the most famous form is this element of intangible heritage, the picking of Iva herb.

Iva herb (lat. Teucrium montanum) is a plant with healing properties that grows in mountainous areas around the world.

In BiH there is small number of habitats where this plant grows, which is why Gostilj on Mt Ozren is an interesting tourist destination, which has the aim of preserving this tradition and that is why it was proposed to include this tradition on the UNESCO List.