"At the end of March 2024, the application of the 'Barco Moliceiro: Art of Naval Carpentry in the Aveiro Region' to the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in Need of Urgent Safeguarding was formally submitted in Paris, UNESCO headquarters", says a statement from the Intermunicipal Community of the Aveiro Region (CIRA).

According to the same entity, this milestone comes after "a deep process of analysis and evaluation" by the UNESCO National Commission, which "recognised its high potential and selected the application from the Aveiro region as the national representative".

"Over the next year, the application will be evaluated again by international experts from UNESCO, and the decision should be known at the end of 2025", says the same note.

CIRA says that this is another step on the path started in 2021, with the consultancy of the Institute of Tourism Planning and Development, which has already achieved the registration in the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in December 2022.

Quoted in the same note, the president of CIRA, Joaquim Baptista, says that the "officialisation of the UNESCO application should fill everyone in the Aveiro region with pride", adding that, while awaiting the official decision of UNESCO, CIRA "will be, as always, 100% committed to the preservation of this heritage that is deeply rooted in the local tradition and in the hearts of our people".

One of the unique aspects of the moliceiro boats is the paintings on the stern and bow: "The bow is the monumental part of the moliceiro, where figures, drawings and captions are exclusive, unparalleled in any known type of navigation", wrote Jaime Vilar, in a book dedicated to that vessel.

In this work, he classifies the captions on the bow into "satirical, humorous and erotic", "religious", "romantic, playful and roguish", "professional, moral and historical".

The same author, based on data collected from the artisans, describes that a moliceiro measures, on average, 15 metres in length (...), displaces about five tons and has a flat bottom and shallow draft, a detail that allows it to navigate where keeled boats cannot pass".

In the 1970s, three thousand moliceiro boats were registered operating in the Ria de Aveiro. Currently, only 50 vessels remain, half of which are used for tourist exploration in the urban canals of the Ria.

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