Main issues related to the protection of historic real estate: topic outline

Abstract

The aim of the article is on the one hand to indicate and briefly characterise the main – although for obvious reasons not all – problems concerning the protection of historical monuments in Poland in general, and real estate monuments in particular, against the background of the general description of the cultural heritage protection law. These problems are already present when trying to define the object of protection; they are substantially related to the issue of social interest (often referred to as public interest or common interest) and come out in full light, in the process of applying the law, when dealing with the issue of too wide a scope of discretionary power of the historic monuments protection authority. On the other hand, and even more importantly, the aim here is to indicate the problems that must be taken into account when planning the necessary changes to the law on the protection of historical monuments, first of all the Act on the Protection and Care of Historical Monuments of 23 July 2003, which is often referred to as the „constitution for the protection of historical monuments in Poland”. Lack of reaction to negative events, including undertaking appropriate legislative actions, but also those aimed at improving the quality of law application by institutions for the protection of historical monuments, will often lead to irreversible and irreparable changes in the Polish national heritage.