UNESCO officials meeting in Ethiopia have added traditional puppetry to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list. The proposal has been jointly made by the two neighboring countries-- Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The audience laughs and claps at the antics during a traditional puppet show in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. Above the tiny stage the puppet masters are at work, twirling and pulling strings and adding the voices  to bring the wooden toys to life. It is a form of entertainment that has appealed to children for generations.

The Czech puppetry tradition dates back to the 18th century and is practised across the country. In addition to the professional puppet theatres, there are now some 3,000 amateur ones in towns and villages all across the country.  The heartland is in eastern Bohemia, where a renowned puppet museum is located.  An annual festival of amateur puppet theater has been held since 1951, which is considered the oldest one of its kind in the world.

Modern Czech puppetry saw its beginning in the early 20th century when the first puppet exhibition in Prague, in 1911, sparked a huge interest in the art.

"At the beginning of the 20th century an exhibition of puppetry attracted the attention of young painters. They could see traditional marionettes on display that resembled humans, but at the same time they perceived it as kinetic sculpture and felt like trying to make puppets. And that was I think extremely enriching for the puppetry," said Somona Chalupova, director of Chrudim Puppetry Museum.

Their contribution in the decades to come was a huge and enriching boost for the tradition. The puppets are crafted by hand, beginning life as a block of wood.
Gradually a human form takes shape, in the hands of a skilled artist like Jiri Bares.

"I think that a puppet is an excellent mediator that shows the world of adults to children.  Children react well to it and perceive it differently from a normal theatre played by adults to them. So I think that it is fun for children to watch and it is fun for the adults to play for them. And that's the reason why I think there are so many people involved in the puppet theatre at the amateur as well as professional level in this country," said Jiri Bares, puppet maker of Drak Puppet Theater.

Lenka Jaklova is the originator of the UNESCO proposal. She says puppetry speaks to children's imaginations.

"It's a wonderful discipline which develops imagination, and develops creativity, it is about ordinary and extraordinary things," said Lenka Jaklova.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia had formed Czechoslovakia, which split into two countries in 1993.