The Director General of the Patrimony of France, a fervent bullfight fan

Paris, June 2011.-Philippe Bélaval is the Director General for Patrimony, the body responsable for the inclusion of bullfights in the Immaterial Cultural heritage of France. It seems that he is also however a passionate fan of bullfights, a charter member of the National Observatory of Bullfighting Cultures (ONGT) and of the Union of Bullfighting French Cities (UVTF). In addition Bélaval is an active member of a bullfighting affiliation, La Querencia, created in Paris in 1986 and has published numerous articles in the bulletin of this affiliation. In 2006, Bélaval presented a paper entitled “ the bullfight is a culture” to the annual Congress of the Federation of Bullfighting Societies of France. Philippe Bélaval was named General manager of Patrimonies one month after the French bullfighting world was launching its campaign to register bullfights under ”the Intangible Cultural heritage of UNESCO. It should also be noted that Bélaval has been a member of the Council of State since 1979. This Council is the highest administrative jurisdiction in France and the body before which the petitions against the inscription will be heard.