This article aims to study the path that in about two centuries has led, starting from the debate on the concept of culture, to the definition by Unesco of the intangible cultural heritage (ICH). According to anthropologists and the sociologists of culture, some friction points are moving intangible culture away from popular culture. Although the 2003 Unesco Charter is a decisive step forward in the preservation of the traditions and popular practices at risk of extinction, the danger of their being parked in museums and embalmed in is always present. It is therefore necessary not to lose sight of the fact that popular culture is a phenomenon in constant evolution and that even though it is attacked by the standardising pressures of mass culture, it survives in its interstices through the personalised use of mass culture products
