Artifacts and art works, often classified as material culture, have long been targets of collectors’ classifications, typologies, or taxonomies. In architectural and urban preservation, inventories play a major role as tools for the identification of monuments and sites of heritage value. The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (UNESCO 2003), however, requires a totally new approach to this matter. Safeguarding is a public policy that aims at protecting cultural elements in the context of the social experiences that create and nurture them.