LAW
of 15th February 1962
on the protection of cultural property

Article 1.1. Cultural property is the wealth of the nation and should be protected by all citizens.
 .2. State and self-government authorities are obliged to secure legal, organisational and financial conditions for the protection of cu1tural property .
 .3. It is the obligation of the owners and users of cultural property to maintain them in due condition.

Art. 2. In the understanding of the law, "cultural property" means any movable or immovable, ancient or contemporary object which is important in terms of the cultural heritage and of cultural development on account of its historical, scientific or artistic value.

Art. 3.1. The aim of the protection of cultural property is its preservation and maintenance in the most suitable manner, socially-useful use and making it available for scientific, didactic and educational purposes so that it may serve science, may contribute to the dissemination of knowledge and the arts and may become a permanent factor in the development of culture and an active feature in the life of contemporary society .
 .2. The protection of cultural property involves protecting it against destruction, damage, deterioration, loss or removal from the country; ensuring its permanent preservation; preparing scientific documentation, lists and a register; and conservation, restoration, or rebuilding according to scientific principles.

Art. 4. Legal protection provided under this law shall be afforded the following cultural property, further referred to in this law as "monuments":
1) Inscribed in the Register of Monuments,
2) Inventoried as part of museum and library collections, with the exception of archival material belonging to the national archives protected under separate regulations.
3) Other [items of cultural property] which are obviously monuments, unless they are protected under separate regulations.

Art. 5. With regard to its material nature, the following may, in particular, be the object of protection:
1) Works of architecture and urban planning, irrespective of their state of preservation, such as historic districts of towns and settlements, parks and decorative gardens, cemeteries, buildings together with their interiors and surroundings, groups of buildings of architectural value as well as buildings of importance to the history of architecture.
2) Ethnographic sites such as typical groups of rural buildings and particularly characteristic [individual] rural structures, and all kinds of equipment, tools and other objects that document the economy, artistic creativity, ideas, customs and other aspects of folk culture.
3) Works of art - sculptures, paintings, ornaments, etchings, illuminations, handicrafts, arms, costumes, coins, and engraved seals.
4) Historic relics such as movable military items, battlefields, sites connected with the struggles for independence and social justice, concentration camps and other premises, buildings and objects connected with important historical events or the activity of historical institutions or of outstanding historical personages.
5) Archaeological and palaeontological sites, such as the remains of ancient settlements and human activities, caves, ancient mines and strongholds, cemeteries, barrows and any other products of ancient cultures.
6) Objects of technical and material cu1ture, such as ancient mines, foundries, workshops, buildings, constructions, installations, means of transport, machines, tools, scientific instruments and objects particularly characteristic of ancient and modern forms of economy, technology and science when such objects are unique or when they are connected with important stages in technical development.
7) Living or inanimate rare specimens of nature when they are not subject to protection of regulations concerning the natural environment.
8) Library materials such as manuscripts, autographs, illuminations, old prints, first editions, unique prints and other cimelia, maps, plans, music scores, drawings, other visual records or sound recordings, sets of instruments, or book-bindings

9) Collections of artistic or historical value as a whole, irrespective of the nature and value of the component items unless they belong to the national archives.
10) Studios and workshops of eminent authors and politicians, as well as documents and objects connected with their life and work.
11) Other movable and immovable objects that ought to be permanently preserved in view of their scientific, artistic or cultural value.
12) The cultural landscape in the form of delimited conservation areas, reservations and parks.

Art. 6.1. On the proposal of the Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage, immovable monuments of particular value for national culture may be recognised by the President of the Republic of Poland as "Monuments of History".
 .2. "Monuments of History" shall be presented to the World Heritage Committee to be placed on the "World Heritage List" and for protection under the Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and natural Heritage adopted in Paris on 16th November 1972 (Dz. U. 1976, Nr. 32 pos. 190 & 191).
 .3. The organisation and manner of protection of "Monuments of History" will be defined by the Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage by way of a separate decree.

CHAPTER III
Organs responsible for the Protection of Cultural Property

Art. 7. Primary supervision over the protection of cultural property rests with the Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage .

Art. 7a.1. the Service for the Protection of Monuments, directed by the Conservator-General of Monuments is a central organ of state administration.
 .2. The Conservator-General of Monuments is appointed and dismissed by the President of the Council of Ministers acting on the advice of the Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the heritage.

.3. The deputy Conservator-General of Monuments is appointed and dismissed by the Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage.

.4. The Conservator-General of Monuments directs the Service for the Protection of Monuments with the aid of the Office of the Conservator-General.

.5. The President of the Council of Ministers on the advice of the Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage, issues a decree endowing the Office of the Conservator-General of Monuments with a statute.

Art. 8.1. The protection of cultural property shall be carried-out by:

 .2. The Provincial Conservator of Monuments executes in the name of the vojevoda the tasks and competencies of the Service for the Protection of Monuments defined in this law and separate acts.
 .3. The Provincial Conservator of Monuments is appointed and dismissed by the vojevoda in consultation with the Conservator-General of Monuments.

.4. The deputy Provincial Conservator of Monuments is appointed and dismissed by the vojevoda on the advice of the Provincial Conservator of Monuments.

.5. The Provincial Conservator of Monuments directs the provincial department of the Service for the Protection of Monuments.

.6. In the understanding of the Codex of Administrative Procedure, in matters connected with the execution of the duties and competencies of the Service for the Protection of Monuments, the correct [administrative] organ is, unless this Law states otherwise, the Provincial Conservator of Monuments and as the organ of higher appeal, the Conservator-General of Monuments.

.7. The vojevoda, at the request of the Provincial Conservator of Monuments may create local departments of the Provincial Office of the Service for the Protection of Monuments. The director of this local office may, with the permit of the Provincial Conservator of Monuments, conduct administrative procedures and issue [administrative] decisions concerning the area which he supervises.

.8. The vojevoda, at the request of the Provincial Conservator of Monuments or with his agreement, may on the basis of an agreement cede to communes and regions [powiat], and also groups of communes and regions situated in the vojevodship, the conducting of matters in the scope of the activities of the Provincial Conservator of Monuments, including the issuing of administrative decisions in his name.

.9. The Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage, in consultation with the Minister responsible for public administration, defines, by means of a decree, the principles of the operation of the provincial departments of the Service for the Protection of Monuments.

Art. 8a. Units of local self-government also carry out the protection of cultural property in the scope defined by this law.

Art. 9. The direct supervision of the state collections and collections outside museums is exercised by the Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage, other ministers (directors of central offices ), legal entities and organisational units without the status of a legal entity, according to their competencies.

Art. 10 .1. The Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage appoints a council who can be consulted on matters concerning the cultural heritage as well as specialists on particular issues concerning the protection of monuments in their capacity as experts authorised to make assessments and express opinions on issues related to particular field of knowledge.
 .2. The Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage may also establish specialist organisational units for the protection of monuments.
 .3. Units referred to in paragraph 2 shall act on the basis of a statute bestowed on them by the Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage.

Art. 11.1. It is the obligation of voivodas and local government administration to take care of cultural property and to undertake protective actions as well as to include tasks related to the protection of Monuments into, inter alia, regional and local plans for spatial development, budgets, local law and communal regulations.
 .2. Regional and local spatial planning documents mentioned in paragraph 1 are agreed with the competent Provincial Conservator of Monuments.
 .3. In those communes where no Conservator of Monuments has been appointed, the head of the community or the mayor of a town is obliged to issue regulations in order to protect a monument in cases of sudden danger and shall immediately notify the competent Provincial Conservator of Monuments about it.

Art. 12.1. The Conservator-General of Monuments may authorise the directors of institutions organised by the Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage to manage, on his behalf, special issues concerning the protection of Monuments to a specified extent and in particular to issue administrative decisions.
 .2. The authorisation mentioned in Art. 1 must be issued with the agreement of the Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage.
 .3. The vojevoda may, on the advice of the Provincial Conservator of Monuments or with his agreement, cede (by means of an agreement with the directors of museums or libraries, or the directors of specialist organisational units called into being in order to protect cultural property) the execution, in his name, of certain matters concerning his functions, including the issuing of administrative decisions.

.4. The ceding to the directors of museums or libraries, or the directors of specialist organisational units of the dealing with these matters (including the issuing of administrative decisions) mentioned in para. 3 may require the agreement of those museums, libraries or organisations or the authorities [responsible for their running].

CHAPTER IV
The Register of Monuments

Art. 13.1. The Provincial Conservator of Monuments compiles a register of Monuments which are situated in his province.
 .2. The council of a commune is obliged to prepare a list of cultural property in the area under their control which is not included in the Register of Monuments.

Art. 14.1. Immovable, movable cultural property , or collections shall be inscribed in the Register of Monuments following the decisions of:
l) The Provincial Conservator of Monuments, who may issue a decision of his own volition, or as the result of a request of the owner or user of cultural property, or the appropriate organ of the commune of district council.
2) The Conservator-General of Monuments.
 .2. Objects belonging to museums and libraries shall not be inscribed in the Register of Monuments.

Art. 15.1. Inscription of immovable cultural property or its part in the Register of Monuments shall be revealed in the land and mortgage register of a given property on the motion of the Provincial Conservator of Monuments.
 .2. If a given property has no entry in the land and mortgage register, or if the register has been lost or destroyed, a motion with the proper documentation shall be deposited with the collection of documents about a given property with the same consequences as in the case of inclusion in the land and mortgage register .
.3. [deleted]

.4. The applications and entries mentioned in paragraphs 1 and 2 are free of court fees.

Art. 16.1. A monument that has lost its value as a monument by being completely destroyed or by ceasing to be classified as a monument on the basis of new scientific analyses, as well as any monument exported from the country on a permanent basis, shall be deleted from the Register of Monuments.
 .2 The decision to delete a monument from the Register of Monuments is
taken by the Conservator-General of Monuments, and in the case of the appointment of a specialist organisational unit such as mentioned in Art. 10, para. 2, the Conservator-General of Monuments after requesting the opinion of that unit.

 .3. In the case of the deletion of an immovable object from the Register, it is also deleted from the land and mortgage register, or a copy of the administrative decision causing the object to be deleted from the Register of Monuments is attached to the collection of documentation on a particular property .

Art. 17. The Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage shall by means of a decree define the procedure for inscribing monuments in the Register and their deletion, as well as the way the Register and central list of Monuments are to be kept.

CHAPTER V
The Extent of the Protection of Monuments

Art. 18. The conservation services shall have the authority to examine, at a
time agreed with the owner (user), any object which is suspected may be of historical, scientific or artistic value, at the place where it is kept or located, in order to determine whether it is an item of cultural property , to determine its state of preservation, or to prepare documentation relating thereto.

Art. 19. The starosta has the right to place suitable signs or inscriptions on immovable monuments.

Art. 20. In order to secure the conservation of historic urban planning arrangements, and building complexes inscribed in the Register of Monuments, the starosta, on the basis of a motion of the Provincial Conservator of Monuments will define the conditions for building activities on their territory , or order the removal, tidying or reconstruction of individual buildings or issue appropriate administrative decisions.

Art. 21.1. All works on monuments and archaeological excavations shall be done only with the permit of the competent Provincial Conservator of Monuments.
 .2. The Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage shall define the principles and mode of issuing of permits for the conducting of conservation work and conditions under which it may take place, and also the qualification of persons who have the right to carry out such activity .The Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage in consultation with the ministry responsible for spatial planning and housing defines the regulations concerning work on immovable cu1tural property, and in connection with archaeological work and excavations, in consultation with the ministry responsible for agriculture, the ministry responsible for the environment.

 22.1. Persons carrying out construction works or earthmoving, in the case of the discovery of an object having the characteristics of a monument, are obliged immediately to notify the board of the appropriate commune or local government organisation and the appropriate Conservator of Monuments. At the same time, he shall preserve such an object and suspend all further work which might damage or destroy it, until the issue of an appropriate administrative decision by the appropriate Provincial Conservator of Monuments.
 .2. The decision referred to in paragraph 1 will be delivered no later than three days from the date of notification of the discovery .
 .3. If the decision is not delivered in the time referred to in paragraph .2, the suspended works may be resumed.

Art. 23.1 : Architectural and archaeological investigations of properties which are not state-owned shall be carried-out after the prior agreement of the owner or user .

.2. In the case of the impossibility of gaining the agreement of the owner or user of a monument, the appropriate provisions of the law of 21^st August 1997 on the utilisation of property (Dz. U. Nr 115, pos. 741, of 1998, Nr 106, pos. 668 and of 1999, Nr 49, pos. 484 and Nr 86, pos. 966) will apply.
.3. All damage caused by the protection of archaeological sites and by architectural or archaeological research shall be compensated by the organisation contracting the protective [conservation] or research work.
 .4. If no understanding on the amount of compensation can be reached, the amount shall be determined according to the provisions of the act referred to in paragraph 2.
 .5. The manner of financing of archaeological research on sites affected by redevelopment will be defined by the Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage in consultation with the Minister responsible for public finances.
 .6. Archaeological investigations in areas affected by mining can only be carried out after consulting the place and extent of those investigations with the relevant mining works.
 

Art. 24.1. All archaeological discoveries and finds are the property of the state.
 .2. All the movable objects referred to in paragraph 1 will be transferred after being defined as monuments by the relevant Provincial Conservator of Monuments to the relevant museum or other scientific institution.
 .3. The finder of an archaeological object or discoverer of an archaeological site is obliged to report this immediately to the appropriate Provincial Conservator of Monuments or the council of the appropriate commune (local government) or a museum or appropriate scientific institution, and to protect the discovered monument. Such persons will be rewarded by the state, provided that they have fulfilled this duty .
 .4. Councils of communes (local governments), local governments, museums or institutions to which such finds have been reported (para. 3) are obliged to immediately pass on the information to the Provincial Conservator of Monuments.
 .5. The manner of awarding of prizes, their nature and amounts will be defined by regulations issued by the Minister responsible for culture.

Art. 25.1 : The owner and user of a monument will, to the extent determined by law, take care of the monument, and in particular will:
l) P0rotect it against destruction, damage or devastation,
2) Immediately inform the appropriate Provincial Conservator of Monuments whenever anything occurs that may be detrimental to the condition and state of preservation of the monument.
3) Inform the Provincial Conservator of Monuments in the course of one month if the monument passes (wholly or in part) into the ownership of, or of its leasing to, another person.
 .2. Furthermore the owner of a movable monument inscribed in the Register of Monuments is obliged to;
1) Inform the appropriate Provincial Conservator of Monuments in the course of one month whenever the movable object is moved and kept in another place.
2) Lend the object, on the basis of an administrative decision issued by the
Provincial Conservator of Monuments, for exhibition or investigation for a period no longer than six months in the course of every five years.

Art. 26.1. Any owner of a movable monument inscribed at his request in the Register of Monuments and his legal successors shall be entitled to the following benefits:
l) Conservation of the object may be carried-out at the expense of the state,
2) Any transfer of ownership of this monument either by inheritance, donation or legacy will be tax-free,
3) The monument cannot be expropriated by the state on the basis of Article 33.
.2. If the owner of the monument does not comply with the obligations defined in Art. 25, the Provincial Conservator of Monuments may decide to deprive him of all or some of the rights arising from paragraph l.

Art. 27.1 : Without the permission of the appropriate Provincial Conservator of Monuments it is not allowed to alter, renovate, reconstruct, conserve, build around, rebuild, decorate, supplement, dig into or make any other change in monuments.
.2. Without the permission of the appropriate Provincial Conservator of Monuments it is not allowed to remove monuments or to do anything which may change spatial relationships in the landscape (composed or established by tradition), or move or remove movable cultural property which will alter the deliberately composed or established by tradition interior layout of secular and sacral architecture.
.3. The regulations in paragraph 1 are equally applicable in the case of work which may mar the area surrounding an immovable monument or the view thereof.
.4. The Provincial Conservator of Monuments may make the issuing of permits to allow work mentioned in paragraphs 1-3 conditional on the preparation of studies and documentation.

Art. 28.1. The appropriate Provincial Conservator of Monuments may:
1) halt all works carried out ignoring the provisions of Art. 27,
2) Order the restoration of the monument of its surroundings to their former state of preservation at the cost of the offender,
 .2. Any procedure for the reimbursement of expenses incurred in returning a site to its original state of preservation will be made in accordance with the regulations concerning the administrative execution of financial obligations.

Art. 29.1 : The provisions of Article 28 paragraph 1, item 1 will also apply to cultural property which is not yet inscribed in the Register of Monuments whenever there are good reasons for such registration.
 .2. Orders to halt works issued on the basis of paragraph 1 will cease to apply at the end of three months if the property in question has not been entered in the Register of Monuments.

Art. 30.1. Whenever he considers it necessary, the appropriate Provincial Conservator of Monuments may order the owner or user to carry out the necessary conservation works within a specified period of time. With regards to immovable monuments the Provincial Conservator of Monuments acts in consultation with the building authorities.
.2. The principles of the covering of expenses for the conservation and repairs to state-owned monuments will be defined by the Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage.

Art. 31.1. The owner or user of a monument which is not in state ownership should within the within one month after receiving the order mentioned in Art. 30.1 declare in writing if he will carry out the work ordered at his own expense.
.2. The state may cause the work to be carried out at the cost of the state budget when the owner does not submit a declaration mentioned in paragraph 1, or does not begin the work in the required time or that progress is so slow that the completion of the work in the required time is precluded. The decision of the Provincial Conservator of Monuments will be put into effect immediately.
.3. Reimbursement of the costs of such work will be made under the provisions of Art. 28.2.
.4. In well-justified cases and especially when the conservation works on the monument do not bring any economic benefits, the Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage may regard the costs to the state, wholly or in part as a non-repayable subsidy.

Art. 32.1. Any claims by the competent authorities connected with the works referred to in Art. 31, paragraph 2, carried out on immovable monuments which are not owned by the state, shall be secured on the demand of the Provincial Conservator of Monuments in the form of a compulsory mortgage.

.2. [deleted]

Art. 33. In the case when the owner of the monument is unknown (and it is not possible to ascertain the name and address of the owner), and the person in possession or in control of the monument does not comply with the provisions of Art 25, or if the public interest requires the state to seize a monument of exceptional historical, scientific, or artistic value in order to give the public access to it, the monument may be seized and taken over by the state.

Art. 34.1. The taking over of an immovable monument by the state will be done in accordance with the regulations of the legislation mentioned in Art. 23, para. 2, on the motion of the Provincial Conservator of Monuments.
 .2. expropriation of a movable monument shall be done by the Provincial Conservator of Monuments. The owner shall receive compensation equal to the va1ue of the object.
 .3. The Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage, in consultation with the Minister responsible for public finances, will define by a decree the procedure for expropriation of movable monuments by the state, the organisation and procedure of the appointment of the commissions for establishing compensation, and the method for establishing the value of an object.
 

Art. 35. [deleted]

Art. 36. Any person who by inheritance, donation or legacy acquires a monument inscribed in the register is obliged to inform the appropriate Provincial Conservator of Monuments within three months of the date on which he comes into possession of it.

Art. 37.1. Whenever there are justifiable fears that a monument will be destroyed, damaged, or exported without the required permit being issued, or of failure to provide the monument with appropriate care despite warnings from the conservation services, the Provincial Conservator of Monuments may place the monument under his protection and may accordingly temporarily seize the said monument until the time of danger is over.
 .2. The terms of para. 1 do not apply to cultural property not inscribed in the Register of Monuments.

.3. Depending on the nature of the monument, a temporary seizure of a movable object involves its removal to a state museum, archives or library , and in the case of an immovable object, placing it under the control and protection of the council of the commune or other suitable organ of regional or provincial self-government.

CHAPTER VI
The Utilisation of Immovable Monuments

Art. 38.1 : An immovable object may be utilised only in a manner which does not conflict with the principles of conservation and in a manner corresponding with its value as a monument.
 .2. In order to ensure the fulfilment of the provisions of paragraph 1, the authorities empowered with the administration of premises and buildings will in the case of Monuments, act in consultation with the Provincial Conservator of Monuments.
 .3. The users of state-owned monuments or those owned by local authorities shall make a commitment to maintain them properly and to preserve and take care of them.

Art. 39. If a state-owned monument or one owned by a local authority is being used in a way inappropriate to its value as a monument, the competent authorities may turn it over to another user.

Art. 40.1. In order to ensure the proper protection and use of immovable monuments, individuals, or organisations without legal status should strive to bring them into use.

 .2. The Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage shall by means of a decree define the conditions for the use of immovable monuments, and the principles and manner of assignation of subsidies from state funds set aside for the benefit of the users of monuments, for renovation and conservation work on these monuments.

Art. 41.1. The Export of Cultural Property is forbidden.
 .2. In exceptional cases, after ascertaining that the lack of a certain object is not detrimental to the national cultural heritage, the Conservator-General of Monuments following consultation with the bodies referred to in Art. 10.1 may give permission for permanent export of the object in question.
 .3. Conservator-General of Monuments may give permission to temporarily
take cultural property abroad, subject to their return in the specified period of time.

 .4. The Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage may transfer, by the means of decrees the rights mentioned in paragraph 3 to the appropriate conservation bodies.

Art. 42.1. The following items are not subject to export restrictions:

 .2. The nature of the works mentioned in paragraph 1, items 1-3 should be specified on a certificate issued by the Provincial Conservator of Monuments or the National Library in Warsaw.
Art. 43. The provisions of Art. 41 and 42 shall not affect other regulations restricting foreign trade.
Art. 44. The Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage shall define the procedures for the submission of applications and for the issue of permits for and certificates for the export of cultural property

{CHAPTER VIII [MUSEUMS] (Articles 45-54) deleted}

 CHAPTER IX

Art. 55. A collection is a group of items of movable cultural property stored in one place which is not a museum.

Art. 56. The owner of a collection entered at his request in the Register of Monuments (with the exception of a collection of archival materials inscribed in the Register of non-state-owned archival material), shall be entitled to the following assistance from the state museums:

Art. 57. The museum will secure the following for the owner of a collection deposited wholly or partially in the museum:

Art. 58. The owner of the collection entered in the Register of Monuments has the right to receive the assistance of the state-owned antique shops in the search for the objects for his collection.

Art. 59. The provisions of Art. 25 and 26 shall apply respectively to the registered collections and its objects.

Art. 60. The owner of a collection included in the Register of Monuments shall ensure for it the proper conditions of storage and render it accessible for scientific research at a time agreed with him.

{CHAPTER X [Museum Objects] (Art. 61-66) -deleted}

Art. 67. Immovable objects shall be made accessible to the public and used for scientific and educational purposes.

Art. 68. The Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage shall establish, in consolation with the appropriate ministers (heads of central offices) a list of immovable monuments accessible to the public, their opening times and use for visiting and educational purposes, taking into account the legitimate interests of their users.

[Art. 69 - deleted]

CHAPTER XII
Voluntary Protection of Monuments

Art. 70.1. For the proper maintenance and preservation of monuments and for the dissemination of their educational and didactic values, a [system of] voluntary protection of monuments shall be established as an expression of the concern of society for the relics of the past which have survived to present times, and which should be preserved and passed down to future generations.
.2. A person or legal entity, or a group of persons organised in institutions, organisations, associations or schools can become a voluntary protector of Monuments with respect to a monument of their choice or in a group of Monuments confided to their care by the Provincial Conservator of Monuments.

Art. 71. The precise scope, organisation and forms of activity of the voluntary protection of monuments shall be defined by the Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage .

Art. 72.1. In the recognition of work done for the protection of cultural property, a medal "For the care of Monuments" shall be established.
 .2. The medal shall be awarded by the Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage by virtue of his office or on the recommendation of the Provincial Conservator of Monuments to persons meritorious for their voluntary work done for the protection of cultural property or for their activity in the field of the preservation of Monuments.
 .3. The Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage shall define the detailed rules of awarding the medal, procedures for applications, its design and dimensions as well as procedures of decoration and method of wearing.

Art. 73. (omitted)

Art. 74.1. Any person who exports a monument without a permit, or after it has been exported he fails to return it by the date fixed in the authorisation, shall be subject to imprisonment for a term of 3 months to five years.
 .2. If the offence was not intentional, the offender shall be subject to a fine or imprisonment.
 .3. The court may order the confiscation of the monument in question even if it is not the property of the offender.

Art. 75. Any person who, with a view to preventing the conservation service from carrying out its duty under this law, impedes or bars access to monuments, wilfully gives false information or acts in any other malicious manner shall be subject to a fine or imprisonment.

Art. 76.1. Any person who disposes of a monument or acts as an intermediary in the disposal of a monument and also an archaeological find or discovery, if on the basis of the associated circumstances ought to have presumed that the acquirer intends to export it without a permit, in the case of export or attempted export, shall be subject to a fine or imprisonment for a term up to two years.

2. The terms of para. 1shall not affect anyone who informs an organ of the conservation services early enough to allow the prevention of export.

Art. 77. Any person who:
1) Undertakes conservation work or archaeological excavations without the
 required permit,
2) during the course of construction work or earthmoving, fails to report immediately to the Provincial Conservator of Monuments the discovery of an object having the character of a monument, or fails to protect the discovered objects before the receipt of [a copy of] the appropriate administrative decision by the Provincial Conservator of Monuments or does not halt work likely to destroy or damage the object,
3) makes an archaeological find or discovery and did not in the course of a month inform the Provincial Conservator of Monuments or the council of the appropriate commune or fails to protect the discovered object or discovered site,

shall be subject to the penalty of arrest or a fine.

Art. 78. Any person being the owner or the user of a monument and:
1) does not protect it from destruction, devastation, or damage,
2) Does not inform the Provincial Conservator of Monuments:

shall be subject to arrest or a fine.

[Art. 79. - deleted]

[Art. 80. - deleted]

Art. 81. Irrespective of penal proceedings, or proceedings in the matter of an offence, the conservation services have the right to restore the former state of preservation of a monument and to restore it to the former place of storage at the perpetrator's expense.

Art. 82. Cultural property defined as a monument on the basis of previously binding regulations shall be considered as monuments in the meaning of this law.

Art. 83. The protection of cultural property held in libraries is regulated by separate regulations, although articles 18, 41-44 and 73-81 of the present act apply to them (with the exception of archival materials held in the national archival collections).

[Art. 84. - deleted]

Art. 85. The following legal regulations shall lose their validity:

.2. Until the issue of executive provisions on the basis of this law, all the hitherto binding regulations issued on the basis of the regulations listed in paragraph 1 with the changes resu1ting in this law shall be in force.

Art. 86. This Act shall come into force three months after the date of its publication.

* * *

A few loose remarks from the translator:

This translation was first posted in March 2000.The version of the Act given here is thus the form the Law on the Protection of Cultural Property was given in changes which came into force as of 1.01.2000 as defined by the proclamation of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of 12^th November 1999 (Dz.U. Nr 98, pos. 1150). This Act has been revised many times since it was last written, and since the last time it was translated (Law on the Protection of Cultural Property and on Museums (Poland) [translator’s name not given], ODZ, Warsaw 1992). Apart from a few curious passages still-remaining which perhaps seem to be relicts of the way of thinking endemic to the former political system, it now bears relatively little resemblance to the original act promulgated in 1962, and it so happens that among those parts which remain from the original act are among the most debatable.

Among the changes affecting this law have been the separation in 1990 from the original Law on the Protection of Cultural Property and Museums of the whole section on museums (now the subject of a different Act of their own) and also changes in the legislation regarding archives.

Some other alterations have had far-reaching effects on the form of the Law. Among these have been the formation of the centralised State Service for the Protection of Monuments in 1990 (see also Decree of the Minister of Culture and Arts of 22nd September 1990 concerning the creation of the State Service for the Protection of Monuments and defining its structure), and then the several stages of its splitting again into individual offices of the local authorities (1996-1999). In addition the recent changes have reflected a ceding of certain executive tasks to the Conservator-General, formerly the preserve of the Minister of Culture and Arts, but also alterations in the way it “directs” the work of the (no longer “State”) Service for the Protection of Monuments. It remains to be seen what these effects will be in the long term. The Ministry itself has recently (1999) been renamed, it has now become the Minster of Culture and the National Heritage.

The text is written in a complex style-less language common to many legal texts, the structure of the sentences leaves much to be desired, which explains the slightly forced language of my translation. Several specific problems of translation may be mentioned here:

• [] square brackets have been used to introduce words of phrases needed to render the Polish text more readable in English.
• The term “monument” has been used here where the Polish term “zabytek” appears in the original. Since the terms are not entirely interchangeable, this causes in places some unavoidable strange phraseology in the English. The original division into “movable (portable)” and “immovable” cultural property has also been retained. The difference is roughly that between “things” (paintings, sculptures etc.) and (in general) “buildings”. These terms are rather vague, not all “movable” cultural property can actually be moved (at least not easily) and not all “immovable” cultural property is as fixed in the landscape as the term would suggest. Is an archaeological site and the finds lying on its surface movable or immovable cultural heritage?
• In its present form, the Act pays considerable attention to the roles of various ranks of local authorities. The local self-government of the country is rather complex. It has been reorganised several times since the War, the most recent changes occurring on 1^st Jan 1999 with the establishment in place of the former 49, of a new network of 16 “vojevodships” (average size 19 500 km², though some such as Poznanskie are bigger). These are perhaps equivalent to the English county with a similar form of elected self-government, headed by the government-appointed “vojevoda”. The vojevodship is divided into a number of regional units (typically 900-1200km²) called a “powiat”, which is governed by an elected council headed by a “starosta”. Within the powiat there are a number of units (typically 100-150km²) km) called the “gmina” (translated here according to established tradition, but perhaps in today’s conditions a little misleadingly, as “commune”). At the head of the elected council of the commune is an official known as a “wojt”. These all have different obligations with regard the cultural heritage.
• The rather strange term “the Minister responsible for culture and the protection of the national heritage” appeared in the Act in 1997, apparently as a reflection of the public debate concerning the desirability of continuance of the existence of this Ministry.
• There has been some debate concerning the correct translation of the Polish term “Generalny Konserwator Zabytków”, some past holders of the post desiring to be called (on analogy with the French) “Directors of the Patrimony”, others desiring “Commissioner-General” (on analogy perhaps with the British Royal Commissions). The term Conservator-General (on analogy with the style of titulature adopted in the Cromwellian period of British history, and “governor-general”) is preferred here as reflecting the Polish terminology, where the adjective “generalny” means “general, full-scale, universal, chief”.
• The term “wojewodzki konserwator zabytków”has been translated here as “provincial conservator of monuments” (the province is the vojevodship).
• The term “local department of the Service for the Protection of Monuments” is used here (Art. 8.7) as the equivalent of the Polish term “delegatura” (from the same root as the word “to delegate”), which at the time of writing are in most cases in effect the survival of the old 49 provincial offices with some staff reductions.
• The legislation differentiates between “ewidencja” translated as “lists” (roughly: Sites and Monuments Records), and the “Register” of monuments (which by definition are also in the “lists”). Inclusion on the Register gives them full legal protection.
• The secret code “Dz. U. Nr 88, pos. 554” refers to item 554 in the 88^th number of a particular year of the official publication of Polish legislation (Dziennik Ustaw).

All concerned with heritage management in Poland are agreed that this law is far from ideal, and attempts have been made to write a new one, these attempts have so-far been unsuccessful, and reveal a deep division of opinion about what it should contain.

The stress on the removal of items abroad derives from the very serious cultural losses to the movable heritage much of which was robbed in the years of the Nazi occupation, but smuggling continued in the following period (aided by the extreme differences in the exchange rate between east and west until the early 1990s).

One casualty of recent legislative changes in Poland is perhaps one of the most important Articles of the whole Act:

‘Art. 73.1. Any person who damages or destroys a monument shall be subject to imprisonment for a term up to five years and a fine.
 .2. If the offence was not intentional, the offender shall be subject to imprisonment for a term up to six months and a fine.” (wording as June 1990 version). This became ineffective after changes in June 1997 in the Criminal Code [art. 3] (Dz. U. Nr 88, pos. 554 and Nr 160, pos. 1083 which came into effect 1^st September 1998). Uniquely, this Article is not marked “deleted” but “omitted”. It would appear that the significance of this article was accidentally overlooked by lawyers of another Ministry working on the Criminal Code. One hopes that it will be restated in future revisions.

It should be noted that several of the executive orders mentioned in the first version of this act still (March 2000) have still not been issued, among them is the promised document defining “the manner of financing of archaeological research on sites affected by redevelopment” (Art. 23.5). Of more interest is the significance of art. 105 and 110 of the Law of 13^th October 1998 – Regulation of the Law concerning the Reform of Public Administration (Dz. U. Nr 133, pos. 872) which states that “until the issuing of executive regulations on the basis of the competencies assigned by the altered legislation, - unless they conflict with those laws - the existing executive regulations remain in force, but no later than 30 September 1999”.

There is also some disagreement concerning the status of documents as cultural property and between the present form of the Act on the Protection of Cultural Property and the Act of 14^th July 1983 on the National Archival Resources (Dz.U. Nr 38, pos. 173) which will no doubt be removed in further revision.

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this translation, the present English text should not be construed as a legally-binding document.