An association -- made up of bistro owners, actors and other private individuals -- has been set up to submit an application for Paris' bistros and cafe terraces to awarded "protected" status and put on UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list. The dossier will be handed in September to the Ministry of Culture, which is responsible for submitting such applications to UNESCO, the organisers said on Thursday. The new association argued that following the attacks on November 13, 2015, "Parisians crowded onto the terraces... to show that they regarded them as places of cultural cross-fertilisation, of freedom and of the art of living." The atrocities carried out by gunman loyal to the Islamic State group were the worst such attacks in France's history and left the capital and widercountry deeply traumatised. The association said that the culture of Paris' world-famous cafes and bistros was increasingly "under threat", not only from soaring rents in the French capital, but also from powerful multi-nationals in the food and drinks sector.

Source: The Local June 08, 2018 07:18 UTC