3.2 Artistic Heritage (Patrimonio artístico)

Tangible heritage is physical: paintings, buildings, sculptures and objects. Intangible heritage (el patrimonio cultural inmaterial) is knowledge and skill that lives in people: music, dances, festivals, crafts and cooking passed between generations. UNESCO created a convention to protect intangible heritage in 2003.

Examples on UNESCO's intangible heritage lists include tango (Argentina and Uruguay, 2009), flamenco (Spain, 2010), traditional Mexican cuisine (2010) and mariachi (Mexico, 2011). Unlike a painting, this kind of heritage survives only if people keep practicing it.

Diego Velázquez painted Las Meninas in 1656; it hangs in the Prado Museum in Madrid. The young princess Margarita stands among her maids of honor (las meninas), two court dwarfs and a dog, while Velázquez paints himself at a huge canvas. A mirror at the back reflects the king and queen, so the viewer seems to stand where the royal couple stands. That puzzle about who is looking at whom makes it one of the most studied paintings in the world.

Mexican muralism began after the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920). In the 1920s the government, with José Vasconcelos leading public education, hired artists to paint murals on public buildings. Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros, known as los tres grandes, painted Mexico's history, Indigenous peoples and workers for a public in which many people could not read. Rivera's murals in the National Palace tell the story of Mexico. Muralism lives on in Chicano murals in US cities and in street art across Latin America.

In Guatemala and Chiapas, Maya women weave on backstrap looms (el telar de cintura), with one end tied to a tree or post and the other to a strap around the weaver's back. The designs and colors of a huipil, a woven blouse, can show which town its wearer comes from.

Alebrijes are brightly painted imaginary creatures. They are not ancient: Pedro Linares, a papier-mâché artisan (cartonero) in Mexico City, began making them in the 1930s after a dream he had during an illness. Woodcarvers in Oaxacan towns such as San Martín Tilcajete and San Antonio Arrazola later began carving them from copal wood, and the 2017 film Coco made them famous worldwide.

Heritage faces real threats: cheap factory-made copies, young people leaving traditional trades, and the looting and illegal sale of archaeological objects. Communities respond with cooperatives, “handmade” labels, workshops for young people and fair-trade sales online.

Who should own heritage is also debated. Mexico has asked Austria to return the feather headdress known as the penacho de Moctezuma, held in a museum in Vienna; Austria has said it is too fragile to travel. Articles on this topic often weigh a museum's role in preserving objects against a community's claim to them.

• la artesanía (crafts), el artesano / la artesana (craftsperson)
• la obra maestra (masterpiece), el legado (legacy)
• conservar (to preserve), transmitir (to pass on)