Skating on natural ice officially part of Dutch cultural heritage

The Research Center for Cultural Heritage added the tradition of skating on natural ice to the list of Dutch cultural heritage. According to the Center, skating on natural ice has such a prominent role in Dutch history that the tradition can not be left off the list, NRC reports.

"With intangible heritage, it is about traditions handed from generation to generation and that has a group of people behind it that is committed to making it future-proof", Ineke Strouken of the Cultural Heritage Center said in a statement. According to her, skating on natural ice fills these requirements.

Dutch took to the ice for the first tie in the 13th century, initially to get from one place to another. By the 19th century, skating on natural ice was something done as sports or just for fun.

The application to add skating on natural ice to Dutch cultural heritage was submitted by the Royal Dutch Skating Association. "Skating on natural is is so in the DNA of the Dutchman that it, in fact, was already cultural heritage. Nowhere in the world is natural ice so massively taken possession of than in the Netherlands", managing director Theo Fledderus said in a statement. According to him, "learning to skate should be just as commons as learning to walk- ride a bicycle-swim".