At its session held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Thursday, 1 December 2016, UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage inscribed the Škofja Loka Passion Play on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The play, based on the 1721 text by Father Romuald Marušič, is performed in Škofja Loka during the Easter season.

Slovenia ratified UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008, when the national Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Slovenia also began to be established. The Škofja Loka Passion Play was the first element to be entered into the Register in 2008 and was proclaimed intangible cultural heritage of special national importance in 2012. In 2015, the Republic of Slovenia submitted the nomination for its inscription on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In 2016, the Evaluation Body of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee recognised the nomination as suitable and recommended its inscription. The Škofja Loka Passion Play thus became the first element of Slovenia’s intangible cultural heritage to be inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List.

The nomination was prepared with the participation of representatives of Škofja Loka, the Slovene Ethnographic Museum as the Coordinator for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, and the Ministry of Culture.

The Škofja Loka Passion Play is a penitential Passion procession based on the 1721 text by Father Romuald Marušič, depicting Christ’s suffering. During the Easter season, it is performed in Škofja Loka by local volunteer amateur actors.