The Polish system for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage AD 2023 – achievements and challenges

The author discusses the current state of organisation of the Polish system for the safeguarding of intangible heritage under the UNESCO Convention 2003 after twenty years since the enactment of the Convention and after ten years of functioning of the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. In the introduction, the author recounts the obligations of a State-Party to the Convention and the beginnings of the Polish debate on the shape of the intangible heritage management system. In the main part of the article, the author reviews and assesses the scope and forms of implementation of the National Programme for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, planned in 2011–2012 by the National Heritage Board of Poland. In the conclusions, the author indicates the next most urgent needs faced by the environment responsible for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in Poland.