Official translation
REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
LAW AMENDING THE LAW ON PROTECTION OF IMMOVABLE CULTURAL PROPERTIES
22 December 1994 No. I-733
Vilnius
(New version of 28 September 2004 No. IX-2452)
(Valstybės žinios, 1995, No. 3-37; 1997, No. 30-713, No. 67-1676, No. 96-2421;
2000, No. 40-1114; 2001, No. 39-1346; 2002, No. 68-2775, No. 123-5552)
Article 1. New Version of the Republic of Lithuania Law on Protection of Immovable Cultural Properties
The Republic of Lithuania Law on Protection of Immovable Cultural Properties shall be amended and set forth to read as follows:
Article 1. Purpose of the Law
1. The purpose of this Law shall be to preserve Lithuania’s immovable cultural heritage and to transmit it to future generations, to provide conditions for the public to become knowledgeable about and use it.
2. This Law shall:
1) implement the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, the Law on Treaties and the Law on the Basics of National Security in the field of the protection of immovable cultural heritage;
2) lay down the legal grounds for the accounting, safeguarding and maintenance of immovable cultural heritage situated in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania, for the supervision of compliance with the heritage protection requirements set by this Law and other legal acts and for the monitoring of the condition of objects of cultural heritage;
Article 2. Definitions
1. “Protection regulation” means a document or part thereof drafted for a specific object or type of objects and setting heritage protection requirements for each object of cultural heritage being declared or declared protected.
2. “Protection zones” means the territories in the vicinity of a protected object or site of cultural heritage subject to special conditions of the management and use of land plots and other immovable items to protect the valuable properties of the object or site of cultural heritage against the likely adverse impact of activities in the said neighbouring territories.
3. “Archaeological findings” means the items or remnants thereof which have been created by man or bear signs of human existence, which have been found during research or otherwise and which either on their own or in relation to other signs possess a scientific value of the knowledge of history. The former owner of these items cannot be identified normally due to a considerable lapse of time since the burying or disposal of the said items. Bodies of the ancients or remnants thereof shall also be held archaeological findings.
4. “Destructive research” means physical research irrevocably affecting an object, part or element thereof which are or can be authentic material sources of scientific knowledge.
5. “Recreation” means the recreation of an unpreserved immovable cultural property in exceptional cases according to determined unpreserved valuable properties by carrying out research-based maintenance operations of heritage protection, construction and landscaping. In the course of recreation, the remaining parts and elements of the property under recreation shall be preserved and returned to the original location, unpreserved parts and elements shall be precisely repeated or created anew.
6. “Elimination of the threat of an accident” means the removal of the reasons which may lead to a sudden collapse of an object of cultural heritage or other loss thereof by minimally altering its valuable properties and carrying out maintenance operations of heritage protection, construction and landscaping.
7. “Authenticity” means the preserved properties of an object or site of cultural heritage including the original or historically formed purpose of the object, appearance and a peculiar physical shape and form, the materials used, constructions, layout, technique of execution, the surrounding environment.
8. “Basic research” means experimental and/or theoretical operations which are carried out primarily to know the essence of phenomena and observed reality without the aim of using the obtained results for a specific purpose.
9. “Conservational (safeguarding) purpose” means the purpose of the use of a protected object, territory of the object or land plots of the site set in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts, where the purpose of the use is to preserve the valuable properties of the said land plot or item by using or adapting for the use in the original or historically formed, closely related thereto or purposefully selected manner (for such purpose) which would ensure adequate upkeep and reveal valuable properties.
10. “Conservation” means putting an end to the influence of the factors destroying or damaging the valuable properties of an object of cultural heritage and reinforcement of authentic characteristics by carrying out research-based maintenance operations of heritage protection, construction and landscaping.
11. “Cultural landscape” means a landscape created as a result of human activities and reflecting his coexistence with the environment.
13. “Cultural heritage” means the cultural property inherited, taken over, created and transmitted from generation to generation and significant from the ethnical, historical, esthetical or scientific point of view.
14. “Objects of cultural heritage” means the single objects or the objects being part of a complex which are registered as immovable cultural property, i.e., structures or other immovable items which are present in land plots, parts of the plots, water and forest areas or parts thereof and which have valuable properties and, together with the territory assigned thereto, are or may be separate objects of rights in rem.
15. “Territory of an object of cultural heritage” means a land plot or other area occupied by and required for the use of an object of cultural heritage and subject to heritage protection requirements.
16. “Repair of a structure of cultural heritage” means the repair of a structure defined by the Law on Construction, where the operations are unrelated to the changing of the valuable properties of the structure. In other cases, conservation, restoration, adaptation or recreation operations shall be carried out as defined by this Law.
17. “Structure of cultural heritage” means a building or part thereof having valuable properties, engineering structures or remaining part thereof, monumental immovable works of art.
18. “Site of cultural heritage” means a territory which is characterised of historically formed peculiarities, homogeneity and/or place in the natural environment and wherein objects of cultural heritage are situated.
19. “Interim protection regulations” means the documents laying down the design conditions for the structures of cultural heritage binding under the Law on Construction and the conditions of territory planning binding under the Law on Territorial Planning.
20. “Immovable cultural heritage” means a part of cultural heritage made up of the preserved or unpreserved material cultural property built, equipped, created by past generations or made important by historical events and directly related to the territory occupied by and required for the use of the property.
21. “Immovable cultural property” means the whole of the valuable properties determining the significance of an object or site of cultural heritage and important for society as its cultural wealth, irrespective of the identity of the owner of the object or the site.
22. “Research of immovable cultural property“ means the determination, generalisation and documentation of the preserved, changed or lost valuable properties and of the facts evidencing the historical development of immovable cultural property.
23. “Heritage maintenance regulations” means a part of the system of binding regulatory documents on maintenance, where they set the rules for the planning, designing, carrying out of operations and for the implementation of the procedures related to the maintenance and the requirements ensuring the preservation of authenticity.
24. “Heritage protection requirements” means the conditions of the management, use and disposal of a protected object or site, the special conditions of the use of the land of a territory or of a protection zone laid down by laws and other legal acts for the protection of valuable properties.
25. “Heritage management” means the creation of the system of the standard legal acts regulating heritage protection, the formation of institutions and organisation of activities thereof, the drafting and implementation of heritage protection programmes, maintenance administration and monitoring.
26. “Initial protection” means the requirements set under this Law for the protection of the objects of cultural heritage inscribed in the Register of Cultural Property, but not declared protected as well as of the immovable cultural property discovered during the carrying out of construction or other operations.
27. “Upkeep” means the operations which are regularly carried by managers and do not change the valuable properties of an object of cultural heritage and are not subject to a consent of an institution in charge of the protection of this object.
28. “Adaptation” means the restructuring of an object of cultural heritage or constituent parts thereof for use by agreeing the needs of the manager and the public, minimally altering the valuable properties and providing for a possibility to restore to a condition prior to the changes and carrying out research-based maintenance operations of heritage protection, construction and landscaping.
29. “Restoration” means the conservation of all preserved authentic parts or elements of an object of cultural heritage, the recreation of separate unpreserved elements or parts, the safeguarding, making known and highlighting of characteristics of an immovable cultural property by carrying out research-based maintenance operations of heritage protection, construction and landscaping.
30. “Protected site” means a site of cultural heritage for protection whereof a cultural reserve or cultural preserve, historical national or historical regional park is set up in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on Protected Territories.
31. “Protected object (structure)” means an object (structure) of cultural heritage declared protected or a cultural monument in accordance with the procedure laid down by this Law.
32. “Monitoring” means the periodic observation, recording of the condition of objects and sites of cultural heritage and changing thereof, the assessment, generalisation and forecasting of the influence destroying or damaging the valuable properties.
33. “Applied scientific research” means the experimental and/or theoretical operations of acquiring knowledge primarily aimed at attaining specific practical objectives or at solving tasks.
34. “Maintenance” means the operations carried out to protect cultural heritage: (applied) research, repairs, elimination of the threat of an accident, conservation, adaptation, restoration, recreation, the planning and designing of these operations.
35. “Supervision of the implementation of a design documentation of maintenance operations” means supervision organised by the builder (client) the purpose of which shall be to control that the maintenance operations of an object of cultural heritage be carried out in compliance with a design documentation, heritage protection requirements and qualitatively. The results of such supervision shall be presented in a report.
36. “Maintenance operations of heritage protection” means the maintenance operations carried out by employing the special technologies ensuring the preservation of authenticity.
37. “Maintenance operations of construction” is construction or demolition operations as defined by the Law on Construction and carried out at a structure of cultural heritage or within territory thereof.
38. “Mothballing” means the elimination of the threat of an accident and other actions required to preserve the valuable properties of a structure of cultural heritage where maintenance operations thereof are suspended or it is no longer used.
39. “Manager” means the owner or other holder of the management rights of an object of cultural heritage and other immovable items situated in the territory or at the site of a single object or a complex object.
40. “Valuable property” means a feature of an object or site of cultural heritage, part or element thereof which is of value from the ethnical, historical, esthetical or scientific point of view.
41. “Change of valuable properties” means the maintenance operations affecting valuable properties (the elimination of the threat of an accident, conservation, adaptation, restoration, recreation) and selected and carried out pursuant to the requirements set by this Law to maximally preserve authenticity and to ensure that an object or a site of cultural heritage are suitable for use.
Article 3. Classification of Immovable Cultural Heritage
1. Immovable cultural heritage shall be classified according to the structure and according to the nature of valuable properties determining significance thereof.
2. According to the structure, immovable cultural heritage shall be:
1) an individual object – a location, structure or other immovable item possessing valuable properties;
3. According to the nature of the valuable properties determining significance or combination thereof, immovable cultural heritage may be:
1) archaeological – locations of past economic or defensive activities, residential, burial or cult sites, complexes thereof or the sites the only or one of the main sources of scientific data whereon is archaeological research and findings;
2) underwater – the archaeological objects, sites and the items of immovable or movable property recognised as significant which are totally or partially under water, where the only or one of the main sources of scientific data thereon is underwater research and findings;
3) mythological – the objects of ancient cult or other human activities recognised as significant and referred to in folklore;
4) ethno-cultural – the structures recognised as significant, complexes thereof, locations or sites revealing the singularity of the ethnic culture;
5) architectural – the architectural structures recognised as significant, parts thereof, fixtures and the integral architectural compositions of such structures and/or complexes of locations, clusters, locations and sites;
6) urban – historical parts of cities, towns and similar locations and sites recognised as significant;
7) green areas – the historical parks, gardens and similar objects or sites recognised as significant and characterised by harmony with human activities, natural and historical environment;
8) engineering – engineering technical structures and complexes thereof recognised as significant as well as industrial or technological equipment;
9) historical – the objects or sites recognised as significant, related to important events or persons of the public, cultural and state history or made well-known by literature or other works of art;
10) memorial – the objects whose purpose shall be to commemorate significant events or persons of the cultural and state history;
11) artistic – works of monumental art, miniature chapels, pillar-type crosses, roofed pillar-type crosses, monument crosses, memorial structures and other works of art recognised as significant and directly related to the territory occupied by and required for use thereof;
12) sacral – the objects, locations, complexes thereof and sites significant for religious communities, societies and centres;
Article 4. Protection of Immovable Cultural Heritage
1. The protection of immovable cultural heritage shall consist of:
2. The protection of immovable cultural heritage shall be regulated for the following protection purposes:
1) scientific knowledge – to preserve archaeological and other unique sources of the historical data which could be taken over by conducting scientific research of a protected object or a site.
2) public knowledge and use – to provide conditions for the present and future generations to become knowledgeable about, be admitted to and use immovable cultural heritage;
3. One or several aims for the protection of an object or site of immovable cultural heritage may be set.
4. The legal protection of immovable cultural heritage shall consist of:
1) the heritage protection requirements set by this Law and other laws for the objects of cultural heritage, territories, sites and protection zones thereof;
2) the requirements set by the Law on Protected Territories and this Law for the objects of cultural heritage situated in preserves, reserves and state parks;
3) the requirements set by the Law on Territorial Planning, the Law on Protected Territories and the territorial planning documents prepared in compliance with this Law;
Article 5. State Administration of the Protection of Immovable Cultural Heritage
1. The national policy of the protection of immovable cultural heritage shall be formulated by the Seimas, the Government and the Minister of Culture, account being taken of the assessments of heritage protection experience and tendencies, analyses and proposals submitted by the State Commission for Cultural Heritage.
2. The Minister of Culture shall organise the state administration of the protection of immovable cultural heritage and be in charge thereof. The Minister of Culture shall authorise the divisions of the Ministry and the institutions under the Ministry to exercise protection functions.
3. Municipalities shall perform the functions assigned thereto by the Law on Local Self-Government, this Law and other laws.
4. Regulatory enactments on the protection of immovable cultural heritage shall, within the limits of competence, be adopted by the Government, the Minister of Culture, the Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage Protection under the Ministry of Culture (hereinafter referred to as “the Department”) and a municipal council.
5. The Government shall declare the objects of cultural heritage of national significance cultural monuments, be in charge of the implementation of the heritage protection obligations assumed under international treaties and perform other functions specified by laws.
6. The Minister of Culture shall approve sample protection regulations, the immovable cultural heritage protection (accounting, heritage management, control, the protection and management of protected territories, other) programmes funded from the state budget, declare objects of cultural heritage state-protected, submit objects and sites of cultural heritage for inscription thereof on the lists of the objects and sites of cultural heritage of international significance, except where treaties provide otherwise, and perform other functions specified by laws and other legal acts.
7. The Ministry of Culture shall, in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and Science, organise the training, vocational training and in-service training of the specialists of the protection of immovable cultural heritage.
8. The regulatory enactments of the Government, ministries and other Government agencies on the protection of immovable cultural heritage must, prior to adoption thereof, be submitted to the Ministry of Culture for agreement in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts. The legal acts adopted by municipal institutions and contradicting the requirements set by this Law must be suspended or repealed in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on Administrative Supervision of Local Authorities.
9. The Department shall perform and be in charge of the implementation of specific functions of the state administration of immovable cultural heritage. It shall have accounting, heritage management and control services and territorial divisions. The Department shall be headed by the Director.
10. The Department shall:
3) use the funds of the state budget allocated for the programmes for the accounting, heritage maintenance and control of immovable cultural heritage;
4) develop programmes for the accounting, heritage maintenance and control of immovable cultural heritage and organise implementation thereof. The Department may assign the implementation of these programmes to the budgetary agencies subordinate thereto and to other entities;
5) organise and co-ordinate the drawing up of inventories, explaining and monitoring of immovable cultural heritage;
6) initiate and organise the declaration of objects of cultural heritage state-protected and submit proposals on the initiation of the declaration of objects of cultural heritage municipality-protected to the heritage protection subdivisions of a municipality;
7) conclude with managers agreements on the protection of state-protected objects of cultural heritage;
8) submit to the State Commission for Cultural Heritage and to the Ministry of Culture annual reports on the implementation of the programmes for the accounting, heritage maintenance and control of immovable cultural heritage and notify these institutions of established infringements of this Law;
12) manage the Register of Cultural Property, wherein immovable cultural property and data thereon shall be registered; collect, handle and store the documents related to this Register pursuant to the requirements set by laws;
13) submit to the manager of the Real Estate Register for registration the immovable items which are objects of cultural heritage, constituent parts or territories thereof, the legal facts related to the protection of immovable cultural heritage;
14) submit to the manager of the Real Estate Cadastre for entering or amending the data on the registration of objects of cultural heritage as the objects of rights in rem and on the restrictions on the use of real estate;
16) within one month of the submission, present conclusions whether the design proposals of the managers wishing to manage objects of cultural heritage meet heritage protection requirements;
17) organise the drafting of the territorial planning documents on the implementation of the requirements of this Law;
18) verify the implementation of this Law and other legal acts regulating the protection of immovable cultural heritage, control compliance with these legal acts;
20) determine the means of the recreation of the damaged property of immovable cultural heritage and the amount of the losses incurred;
22) within the limits of its competence, perform the functions of an entity of the environmental impact assessment of economic activities under the Law on the Environmental Impact Assessment of Proposed Economic Activities;
23) have the right to obtain from state and municipal institutions, managers, other physical and legal persons information on objects of cultural heritage, survey, record and research the immovable cultural property and immovable items which may possess valuable properties;
25) file actions, applications and appeals to court in accordance with the procedure laid down by laws;
Article 6. Administration of the Protection of Immovable Cultural Heritage in Municipalities
1. The functions assigned to municipalities (of limited independence) and independent functions of the protection of immovable cultural heritage shall be performed by the heritage protection subdivision of a municipality.
2. Municipal institutions shall issue sets of the conditions of designing protected structures and structures in the territories of protected objects and at protected sites, organise the agreement of the design documentation of the said structures and grant permits to build, reconstruct, repair or demolish the said structures in accordance with the procedure laid down by this Law, the Law on Local Self-Government and the Law on Construction.
3. The heritage protection subdivisions of municipalities, in performing the functions of the protection of state-protected objects assigned to a municipality, shall:
1) act as intermediaries between managers and the Department: accept applications of the managers, forward the applications accompanied by a subdivision’s proposals to the Department and present replies to the managers;
3) verify the condition of objects of cultural heritage, accumulate information and submit it to the Department in accordance with the monitoring procedure approved by the Minister of Culture;
4) notify the Department of the decisions taken by the municipality on state-protected objects and sites;
4. The heritage protection subdivisions of municipalities shall, with regard to the objects declared protected by a municipal council, perform the functions referred to in subparagraphs 2, 7-11 and 13-19 of paragraph 10 of Article 5 of this Law as well as:
1) develop programmes for the municipality’s immovable cultural heritage accounting, heritage maintenance, education, schooling and other heritage protection programmes and organise implementation thereof;
2) initiate and organise the declaration of objects of cultural heritage municipality-protected and submit data thereon to the Register of Cultural Property;
3) co-operate with the heritage protection subdivisions of other municipalities in the field of the protection of immovable cultural heritage;
5) submit to other subdivisions of the municipality, undertakings, agencies, organisations and other legal and natural persons proposals and methodical and professional assistance on the issues of explanation, protection, dissemination of knowledge and rehabilitation of immovable cultural heritage;
6) have the right to obtain from state and municipal institutions, managers and other natural and legal persons information on objects of cultural heritage, survey, record and research the immovable property and immovable items which may possess valuable properties;
Article 7. State Commission for Cultural Heritage
The State Commission for Cultural Heritage shall be the expert and adviser of the Seimas, the President of the Republic and the Government on the issues of the national policy of the protection of immovable cultural heritage. The management, financing, tasks and rights of the Commission shall be set out by the Law on the State Commission for Cultural Heritage.
CHAPTER III
ACCOUNTING OF IMMOVABLE CULTURAL HERITAGE AND DECLARATION AN OBJECT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE PROTECTED
Article 8. Accounting of Immovable Cultural Heritage
1. The accounting of immovable cultural heritage shall consist of drawing up of inventories, identification of specific immovable cultural property and registration thereof.
2. Inventories of immovable cultural heritage shall be drawn up by compiling a list of all works and other items which could be assigned thereto. Inventory data shall be regularly updated, accumulated and systematised. The procedure for drawing up of inventories shall be approved by the Minister of Culture.
3. In order to make immovable cultural property known, historical and physical research must be conducted. On the basis of data of this research, the significance of objects or sites of cultural heritage and valuable properties thereof shall be determined.
4. The making known of specific immovable cultural property shall be organised by the Department and the heritage protection subdivisions of municipalities. Traditional religious communities, societies and centres, science and academic as well as state research institutions may organise the drawing up of inventories and making known of the immovable cultural heritage corresponding to their field of activities or belonging to them by the right of ownership by co-ordinating their actions with the Department.
5. The significance of immovable cultural property and the valuable properties of objects or sites of cultural heritage shall be determined and the boundaries of territories shall be defined by the immovable cultural heritage assessment councils formed by the institutions referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article (hereinafter referred to as “assessment councils”).
6. The criteria for the assessment and selection of immovable cultural property, the volume of data of the research required for the making known of this property and the sample regulations of assessment councils shall be approved by the Minister of Culture.
7. The Register of Cultural Property shall be set up, managed, used and reorganised in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on State Registers, this Law, the Law on the Protection of Movable Cultural Property and other legal acts.
8. Immovable cultural property shall be registered after an assessment council decides that a property is in the need of legal protection. The said property shall be registered as individual or complex objects or sites of cultural heritage.
9. In the Register of Cultural Property and in an immovable cultural property certificate (extract from the data of the Register) compiled on the basis of data thereof, the following data of each property being registered shall be entered:
10. The Department shall set a code for each registered immovable cultural property, enter it in the Register of Cultural Property and check the already entered code (codes) provided by the public register (the Real Estate Register) for the land plots of an object or site of cultural heritage and other immovable items situated in the territory of the object or the site as well as other data established by legal acts.
11. The Register of Cultural Property shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down by laws and other legal acts or under agreements on exchange of data, exchange required data with the Register of Immovable Property and other state registers, cadastres, classifiers, specialised data banks as well as with the developers of state programmes, the organisers of general, detailed and special planning, where they are state or municipal institutions. The Register of Cultural Property shall have the right to obtain the data of other state registers and cadastres required by it.
Article 9. Initial Protection of Immovable Cultural Property
1. The manager of an object of cultural heritage registered in the Register of Cultural Property whereon no decision has been taken whether or not to declare it protected, wishing to carry out the maintenance operations which may affect the valuable properties of the object of cultural heritage, must submit design proposals to the heritage protection subdivision of a municipality or to list in writing the operations to be carried out. The heritage protection subdivision of the municipality shall forthwith notify thereof the Department.
2. Where it is established that the operations to be carried out would damage valuable properties, the declaration of an object of cultural heritage protected must be initiated within 15 days. A decision on the initiation of the declaration of the object of cultural heritage state-protected shall be taken by the Department, and municipality-protected – by the heritage protection subdivision of a municipality.
3. Where, in the course of construction or other operations, archaeological findings or valuable properties of an immovable item are discovered, the managers or the persons carrying out the operations must notify thereof the heritage protection subdivision of a municipality, and the latter shall inform thereof the Department. The Department may suspend operations for 15 days. Within this time limit, it must, in conjunction with the heritage protection subdivision of the municipality, verify the notification and take a decision whether or not to initiate the registration of a discovered immovable cultural property, the declaration of an object of cultural heritage protected or the making of the discovered valuable property known and the revision of the protection requirements.
4. The Department may also suspend operations for 15 days, where it transpires that the requirements referred to in paragraph 1 or 2 of this Article have been violated.
5. An institution which has taken a decision on the initiation of the declaration of an object of cultural heritage protected or the identification of a newly discovered valuable property of an already protected object and the amendment of protection requirements may restrict to 6 months or prohibit the operations which could damage valuable properties in the object itself, in the territory or protection zone thereof. Where the territory and the protection zone have not been established, the operations may be restricted or prohibited within the distance of 250 metres from the object. Where required research is not conducted due to unfavourable climatic conditions, the time limit may be extended. The time limit for the prohibition of the carrying out of the operations may not exceed in total 8 months. Within this time limit and in accordance with the procedure laid down by this Law, the required research must be conducted, a design documentation of the boundaries of the territory and the protection zone must be prepared and agreed, where necessary, the structure must be conserved and other actions of the procedure for declaring an object of cultural heritage protected must be carried out.
Article 10. Declaration of an Object of Cultural Heritage Protected
1. The Department or the heritage protection subdivision of a municipality must register a decision on the initiation of the declaration of an object of cultural heritage protected in the Register of Cultural Property and give written notice thereof, within 15 days of the registration, to all persons whose rights in rem to immovable items in the territory of such an object have been registered in the Real Estate Register.
2. The public and managers of an object of cultural heritage shall be acquainted with a decision on the declaration of the object of cultural heritage protected and the design documentation of the boundaries of the territory and protection zone of this object in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on Protected Territories and the Law on Territorial Planning.
3. A municipal council shall, upon the proposal of the heritage protection subdivision of the municipality, declare objects of cultural heritage municipality-protected.
5. Upon the proposal of the Minister of Culture and upon the approval of the State Commission for Cultural Heritage, the Government shall declare the objects of cultural heritage of national significance monuments of culture. Upon the proposal of the Minister of Culture, the Government shall inscribe the monuments of culture which may be preserved and made accessible to the public only when belonging to the Republic of Lithuania by exclusive right of ownership on the list of the historical, archaeological and cultural objects of state significance.
6. A legal act whereby an object of cultural heritage is declared protected shall specify the aim (aims) of protection, the nature of the valuable properties or combination thereof determining the significance and approve the boundaries of the territory and protection zone.
7. Where an object of cultural heritage has deteriorated, has been destroyed or its valuable properties have been otherwise lost, upon the establishment of the reasons for and/or the persons responsible for causing this damage and upon giving at least six months’ advance notice thereof in the press, a decision shall be taken on the repeal or amendment of an act on the declaration of the object of cultural heritage protected. Upon the taking of a decision cancelling the protection of the object, the said object shall not be stricken off the Register of Cultural Property.
8. Where an object of cultural heritage is declared protected or a preserve or reserve is set up to protect a site, the following data must be entered in the Register of Cultural Property and in a certificate of immovable cultural property:
1) the legal acts and amendments thereto laying down protection and approving the territory and protection zones, the codes of entries in the registers registering these acts;
3) terms and conditions of a protection agreement concluded with a manager, where such an agreement has been concluded;
9. Where the purpose of a movable item located in a structure of cultural heritage and protected under the Law on the Protection of Movable Cultural Property is integral of the purpose of the structure and where the item is historically related to the structure and contributes an additional value thereto, the item shall be entered in the Register of Cultural Property and in a certificate of immovable cultural property as an item being one of valuable properties thereof. Where the structure is declared protected, the movable cultural property specified as a valuable property shall become protected under this Law too.
Article 11. Territories, Protection Zones and Sub-Zones of Objects and Sites of Cultural Heritage
1. An object of cultural heritage shall be protected together with the territory which it occupies and which is assigned thereto. This territory shall be integral of the object of cultural heritage.
2. The boundaries of the territory of an object of cultural heritage shall be determined to coincide with the boundaries of land plots or parts thereof being objects of rights in rem. Where the research-based boundaries of the territory of an object of cultural heritage as determined by an assessment council do not correspond to the boundaries of objects of rights in rem, an institution which is in charge of the protection of the said object or which has initiated the declaration of the object protected shall organise and fund the legalisation of a part of a land plot or parts of land plots as the new objects of rights in rem.
3. The territories of sites of cultural heritage shall be established in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on Protected Territories.
4. The territories of objects and sites of underwater heritage and the territories of the objects of cultural heritage situated in forests shall be described, established and legalised as objects of civil right and registered in the Register of Cultural Property in accordance with the procedure laid down by this Law and other legal acts.
5. Conservational (safeguarding) purpose shall be set for the land plots or parts thereof located within the territory of a protected object and being objects of rights in rem.
6. An intermediate protection zone mitigating the adverse impact of human activity shall be established for a protected object or site. This zone may have one or both of the following sub-zones of a different protection and use regime:
1) the subzone of protection against physical impact – the land plots or parts thereof outside the territory of an object of cultural heritage together with other immovable items situated therein as well as the forest and water areas subject to the requirements of this Law and other legal acts prohibiting in this subzone the activities likely to physically impair the valuable properties of the object of cultural heritage;
2) the subzone of visual protection – the land plots or parts thereof outside the territory of an object of cultural heritage or the subzone of protection against physical influence together with other immovable items situated therein and being subject to the requirements of this Law and other legal acts prohibiting in this subzone the activities likely to hinder the survey of the object of cultural heritage.
7. The boundaries of a protection zone shall be determined in compliance with the Law on Protected Territories, the Law on Territorial Planning and this Law. The boundaries of the protection zone of an object of cultural heritage situated in a preserve or reserve shall not be determined. In this case, the documents of the territorial planning of the preserve or reserve and/or the regulations of these protected territories shall be additionally provided with the requirements for protection against the likely adverse impact of activity in the neighbouring territories.
Article 12. Marking of Objects of Cultural Heritage
1. Protected objects shall be marked by typical boards and signs in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Government or an institution authorised by it.
Article 13. Safeguarding Regimes
1. The following safeguarding regimes may be introduced for protected objects and territories thereof: the reserve regime, the authentic purpose regime and the sparing use regime.
2. The reserve regime shall be applied to the objects of cultural heritage expedient to be preserved so that they could be researched in the future by making use of broader scientific possibilities. The activities which may destroy scientific data – destructive research, maintenance operations, economic activities – shall be prohibited therein. The list of the objects subject to the reserve regime shall be approved by the Minister of Culture.
3. The authentic purpose regime shall be introduced for the objects of cultural heritage whose use in the original or historically formed manner would ensure upkeep thereof and would make the valuable properties of the protected object known better than other manner of use.
4. The sparing use regime shall be introduced for the objects of cultural heritage for protection whereof it is expedient to select such a manner of use and adaptation that the valuable properties of the object be least damaged and the manager be interested in keeping it up.
5. The authentic purpose regime or the sparing use regime shall be introduced for objects and territories of cultural heritage by an institution which has declared an object protected. The conservational (safeguarding) purpose may be set for such objects as the supplementary rather the main purpose.
Article 14. Rights and Duties of the Manager
1. The Manager shall have the right:
1) to use the property managed by him according to its purpose without prejudice to the requirements set by this Law and other laws;
2) to receive methodical, technical, financial and/or other support for the upkeep and maintenance of an object of cultural heritage, to be granted access to the research data held by state and municipal institutions and other information on the object of cultural heritage;
3) to obtain information on an object of cultural heritage declared protected or planned to be declared protected, a preserve or reserve set up to protect a site and the heritage protection requirements set therefor for the property (items) managed by him;
4) to file proposals, comments and claims on the registration of his property in the Register of Cultural Property and declaration a protected object of cultural heritage or cultural monument;
2. The manager of a protected object shall have the right to conclude a protection agreement under the terms and conditions referred to in Article 16 of this Law to enter in additional commitments and/or specify the ways of compensation for the protection of the object of cultural heritage.
3. The duty of the manager shall be to take care of the preservation of an object of cultural heritage. The manager must:
1) keep up the object of cultural heritage, territory thereof, site: timely eliminate discovered defects and protect structures against adverse environmental impact; maintain required microclimate in the premises interior whereof is valuable; timely renew green areas and plantations; remove self-growing plants; mow grass and prune trees in the territory; collect refuse; eliminate the sources of pollution;
2) to notify an institution in charge of protection of a threat posed to an immovable property which he cannot eliminate himself or does not possess required qualifications or permission therefor;
3) permit, in accordance with the procedure approved by the Minister of Culture, the officials of the Department, the heritage protection subdivision of a municipality as well as members of the State Commission for Cultural Heritage or the specialists authorised thereby to survey an object or site of cultural heritage, record the condition of the object or site of cultural heritage and conduct research under the agreed conditions. In this case, the parties must agree on the duration of the research, boundaries of land plots, the time of carrying out of the operations and compensation for losses;
4) submit to the heritage protection subdivision of a municipality design documentation of the maintenance of a protected object or an object subject to a pending procedure for declaring the object protected and the entire design documentation implementation whereof would affect the surrounding environment of the said object;
5) provide the conditions meeting the requirements set by this Law and other laws for the public to be admitted to and become knowledgeable about immovable cultural property;
Article 15. Transactions on Objects of Cultural Heritage
1. The seller or the manager of an object of cultural heritage otherwise transferring rights of management (hereinafter referred to as “the seller”) shall give at least a one-month advance notice of his intention to conclude a transaction to the heritage protection subdivision of a municipality. Within this time period, the subdivision must verify whether the condition of the said object and valuable properties thereof correspond to the condition specified in the certificate of the immovable cultural property.
2. The condition of an object of cultural heritage shall be verified in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Minister of Culture. Where maintenance operations have not been carried out therein, where no damage thereto has been established and where requirements set for use thereof have not been violated, the verification act shall remain in force 6 months from the signing of the act. Upon the request of the seller or acquirer, the said verification of the condition may be carried out for a state charge of the amount established by the Government not later than within 15 working days of the notification of an intention to conclude a transaction.
3. The rights, duties and liability of the transferor of an object of cultural heritage shall, upon the verification of the condition of the object, be transferred to the new manager (acquirer) from the signing of a statement of acceptance. Where the condition established at the time of the verification does not correspond to the condition specified in the certificate of the immovable cultural property, the transferor shall be held liable therefor.
Article 16. Protection Agreements
1. Protection agreements shall establish the servitudes of structures and formalise other heritage protection requirements for objects and sites of cultural heritage.
2. Agreements may be concluded with the owners and users of land, forest and water bodies, where the land, forest or water body is situated in a protected territory, by an institution authorised by the Government and being in charge of the protection of the protected territory.
3. Protection agreements may be concluded with the managers of the objects of cultural heritage registered in the Register of Cultural Property and with the managers of the land plots or immovable items situated in the territories and protection zones of the objects by the Department, the heritage protection subdivision of a municipality, funds or other public institutions charged with the protection of cultural heritage.
4. The procedure for concluding protection agreements shall be laid down by the Government or an institution authorised by it.
5. Protection agreements shall be registered in the Real Estate Register. In the event of change of the manager, the heritage protection requirements listed in an agreement shall be transferred together with an object to the new manager.
6. Protection agreements may establish:
1) the commitment of the manager not to build the structures likely to obstruct or change the existing view;
2) the commitment of the manager not to carry out specific actions which would change the valuable properties or hinder public knowledge thereof;
4) methodical, technical, financial and/or other support for the maintenance of an object of cultural heritage;
Article 17. Protection of the Immovable Cultural Heritage Protected for Scientific Knowledge
1. In an object protected for scientific knowledge, territory thereof or a site, it shall be prohibited:
1) without the consent of an institution in charge of protection, to uncover the authentic unresearched parts or elements under protection as specified in the property’s certificate, to unearth unresearched cellars of buildings, to open crypts or burial vaults, to uncover and move archaeological layers and to use metal, electronic or other detectors;
2) in the territory of a protected object, at a site and in a subzone of protection thereof against physical impact, to carry out any operations changing the water level or the actions likely to cause deformation of soil and vibration on land or under water or waves;
3) in the territory of a protected archaeological object, to engage in farming or forestry, with the exception of the removal of self-growing trees and scrubs;
2. A protection agreement may lay down conditions for the restrictive use of the territory of a protected object or site for agricultural, forestry or other purpose.
3. In an unresearched object protected for scientific knowledge, the manager may carry out only upkeep and conservation operations.
4. Where it is unprofitable for the manager to keep up and use an object protected for scientific knowledge, site or part thereof, he may apply to an institution in charge of the protection of the object or site for a permission to organise scientific investigation of the said object, site or part thereof or to take over the protected object, site or part thereof. The protection requirements of a researched object, site or part thereof may be changed by a legal act declaring the object protected upon striking off scientific knowledge from the objectives of protection.
Article 18. Research of Immovable Cultural Heritage
1. Research shall be the basis for the accounting, maintenance, knowledge of immovable cultural heritage and dissemination thereof.
2. The basic research of immovable cultural heritage shall be funded from the state budget and conducted according to state programmes by institutions of science and studies as well as other state research institutions. Applied and destructive scientific research shall be conducted by the institutions of the relevant field, scientists and the researchers certified in accordance with the procedure approved by the Minister of Culture.
3. When assessing the environmental impact of planned economic activity in accordance with the procedure laid down by laws, the organiser (client) thereof shall request that the Department conducts applied scientific research of immovable cultural heritage required for the impact assessment. It shall be financed by the organiser of the planned economic activity.
4. The applied scientific research required to be conducted prior to the designing of maintenance of an object of cultural heritage or during maintenance shall be organised by the Department, where the object is state-protected, or by the heritage protection subdivision of a municipality, where the object is protected by the municipality. A state fee of the amount established by the Government shall be collected for the research conclusions issued to the manager or other organiser of maintenance. Where new valuable properties are discovered during the carrying out of maintenance operations, additional research required for making them known shall be organised by an institution in charge of protection. It may be funded by the manager or other organiser of maintenance wishing to speed up the research.
5. The archaeological findings discovered during research shall, if possible, be protected and exhibited at the place of discovery thereof. In other cases, in accordance with the procedure approved by the Minister of Culture, they shall be handed over to museums having conditions to preserve and exhibit them. The treasures taken for public needs shall be reimbursed in accordance with the procedure approved by the Minister of Culture.
6. Destructive research shall be conducted in accordance with the procedure laid down by heritage maintenance regulations. Research reports shall be drawn up in accordance with the procedure approved by the Minister of Culture. Permissions for destructive research shall be issued by the Department and notified to the heritage protection subdivisions of a municipality. Copies of research reports and publications must be submitted to the Department and registered in the Register of Cultural Property.
Article 19. Protection of Immovable Cultural Heritage Protected for Public Knowledge and Use
1. The manager of an object protected for public knowledge and use, another object located in a complex object or at a site protected for public knowledge and use may use it in the ways specified in the certificate of the immovable cultural property.
2. In an object protected for public knowledge and use, territory thereof, at a site, it shall be prohibited:
1) to destroy or to otherwise damage the valuable properties specified in the certificate of immovable cultural property;
2) in the territory or protection zone, to build the structures likely to eclipse the object or objects of cultural heritage by height, size or appearance and hinder survey thereof;
3. The unresearched parts of an object or site protected for public knowledge and use as specified in the certificate of immovable cultural property shall be subject to the requirements referred to in Article 17 of this Law.
4. In an object protected for public knowledge and use, the construction operations diminishing valuable properties shall be prohibited: adaptation of the object of cultural heritage for the uses other than specified in the certificate of immovable cultural property; increase of the intensity of the use of protected structures - the building of extensions to buildings, additional floors, the equipment of new mansards, the formation of a new planned structure and otherwise destroying signs of authenticity.
5. Where the manager proves that the use of a protected object in the ways and within the scope specified in the certificate of the said property is unprofitable, does not justify the costs of maintenance thereof and that there are no persons wishing to take over the use of the object of cultural heritage without damaging valuable properties thereof, the institution in charge of the protection of this object shall suggest to carry out, at the expense of the manager, all required operations of scientific investigation and document management in order to enable to establish the likely changes least impairing valuable properties or shall demand to mothball the object. In the latter case, mothballing costs shall be reimbursed, in accordance with the procedure approved by the Minister of Culture, by the institutions in charge of the protection of the object.
6. In order to avoid adverse impact on the valuable properties of a protected object or site, a consent of an institution in charge of the protection of the object of cultural heritage must be obtained, where the intention is:
1) to divide the protected object or the land plots situated in territory thereof into separate parts and to change boundaries thereof, except for the cases established by the Law on Protected Territories;
2) in the territory of the protected object, to change the way and character of land use, the development regime and the purpose of buildings or structures;
3) in the territory of the protected object and protection zones, to build structures, to change the flow of rivers, to change existing and establish new water bodies, to alter the relief, to set up new or expand current quarries, to plant the plantations which are going to obstruct valuable properties;
7. A consent pursuant to paragraph 6 of this Article shall not be required where the mentioned actions are permitted under a plan of management of the territory of a protected object and protection zones thereof as approved by the municipal council and an institution in charge of the protection of the said object and/or under a design documentation of heritage maintenance setting out the likely manner of the use and conditions of the development of each land plot.
8. At objects of cultural heritage, in territories and protection zones thereof, advertising shall be erected pursuant to the rules approved by the Minister of Culture.
9. The manager of an object of cultural heritage managed by the right of private ownership may impose a charge for admission to the interior premises and territory of a structure of cultural heritage or collect from visitors donations (charge) for the upkeep and maintenance of the object of cultural heritage, request compensation for the use of the image of the object in commercial advertising.
Article 20. Protection of Immovable Cultural Heritage of Public Respect
1. All cemeteries shall be kept up pursuant to rules for the upkeep of cemeteries approved by the Government or an institution authorised by it. The main conservational (safeguarding) purpose of land use shall be set for the territories of unused cemeteries and may be changed only upon recognising the priority of another public need and upon transferring the bodies of the dead.
2. A place of immovable cultural heritage of public respect may be protected, although there are no authentic parts or elements significative of a person, an event or other valuable properties of the place. This place shall be marked by monument boards, sculpture works, memorial structures and the items demonstrating the former surroundings of an event or residential surroundings. It shall be prohibited to demolish or damage the structures designated for the marking of the valuable properties of the said place. These structures may be altered or constructed anew only upon the receipt of the consent of an institution in charge of the protection of this place.
Article 21. Protection of Immovable Cultural Heritage Situated in a Preserve, Reserve, National Park
1. The immovable cultural heritage situated in a preserve, reserve, national park shall be protected pursuant to the requirements of this Law and the Law on Protected Territories.
2. For the protection of sites of cultural heritage, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on Protected Territories, historical national parks, historical regional parks, cultural reserves and cultural preserves shall be set up. The protection of the old towns, historical parts of cities and towns, ethno-cultural villages and other residential areas or parts thereof shall have the status of cultural preserves.
3. The Minister of Culture shall approve the procedure for the use of and admission to cultural reserves (reserves-museums), approve or submit for approval to the Government the criteria for the setting up of cultural preserves, cultural reserves (reserves-museums), state historical parks, submit, unless provided for otherwise in international treaties, the protected territories for inscription on the international lists of protected territories, approve strategic planning documents and management plans (planning schemes) of the protected territories as well as design documentation of heritage maintenance.
4. The Ministry of Culture shall exercise the following functions of the management of state cultural reserves (reserves-museums), state historical parks, state cultural preserves:
1) organise the development of the strategy and programmes for protection and management of the protected territories;
3) organise the drawing up of the protected territories’ management plans (planning schemes) and the preparation of design documentation of heritage maintenance;
5. The Department, in carrying out the protection of immovable cultural heritage in preserves, reserves and state parks, shall control:
1) compliance with the established protection and use regime, assurance of the protection and maintenance of objects of cultural heritage and the implementation of targeted programmes;
6. The heritage protection subdivision of a municipality shall keep up the cultural preserves set up by the municipal council, control the manner in which land is used therein as well as the activities of land owners, managers and users related to the restrictions specified in territorial planning documents and organise the drawing up of heritage maintenance plans.
Article 22. Planning of the Protection of Immovable Cultural Heritage and Territorial Planning
1. The territories of protected objects, protected sites, protection zones shall be managed and activities therein shall be developed pursuant to general and special territorial planning and strategic planning documents and the heritage protection requirements set thereby and prepared on the basis of the provisions of this Law, the Law on Protected Territories, the Law on Territorial Planning.
2. The special territorial planning of the protection of immovable cultural heritage shall be organised by:
1) the Department of Cultural Heritage Protection – the drawing up of state- and regional-level cultural heritage network schemes and special plans of other types, where the state declares or has already declared objects of cultural heritage protected and sets up or has already set up protected sites; funds shall be allocated from the state budget; directorates of protected sites may also be the organisers of the planning;
2) the municipal administration director – the drawing up of the district-level cultural heritage network schemes and special plans of other types, where the municipality declares or has already declared objects of cultural heritage protected and sets up or has already set up cultural preserves; funds shall be allocated from the municipal budget.
3. The following types of the special plans of the protection of immovable cultural heritage shall be distinguished:
1) cultural heritage network schemes - shall be drawn up to set out the common strategy for the development of the system or parts thereof of objects of cultural heritage, territories and protection zones thereof, sites, protection zones thereof;
2) plans of the boundaries of cultural heritage territories and protection zones - shall be drawn up to determine or change the boundaries of the territories and protection zones of objects of cultural heritage declared protected and of sites set up as protected;
3) management plans (planning schemes) of protected sites and protection zones – shall be drawn up to set or amend the heritage protection requirements of protected sites and protection zones thereof;
4) landholding plans of protected objects and sites – shall be drawn up to develop land plots, to formalise, reparcel, take over, consolidate historical possessions as well as to lay down the conditions of use (to establish the intended purpose, restrictions, servitudes, etc.);
4. The organisers of special territorial planning of the protection of immovable cultural heritage may organise the drawing up of several different types of special plans of the protection of cultural heritage in a single special planning document as well as the drafting of other documents required for special territorial planning.
5. The heritage protection requirements set in special planning documents shall be binding for the drafting of general, special and detailed territorial planning documents. The heritage protection requirements set by special planning documents shall, in addition to other requirements set by laws, also regulate land work, the construction of structures or installations, height of the structures, contents, density and intensity of building, exterior finishing materials, planting of greenery, height, density and type of plantations, transport flows and intensity thereof.
6. The following strategic planning documents of the protection of immovable cultural heritage shall be drafted: heritage management plans, monitoring programmes, other targeted programmes and action plans. The procedure for drafting and approving the strategic planning documents shall be laid down by the Government.
7. The special territorial planning documents of the protection of immovable cultural heritage shall be drafted pursuant to the rules for the drafting of these documents prepared by the Ministry of Culture and approved by the Minister of Culture and the Minister of Environment. The rules shall establish the composition of the planning documents of the protection of immovable cultural heritage, the territorial protection measures provided for by these documents, the procedure for the drafting, public consideration, agreement, approval and validity of the documents. The heritage protection requirements set by the special territorial planning documents of the objects of cultural heritage declared protected shall enter into force upon the declaration of the said objects of cultural heritage protected.
8. Master and detailed plans of the territories wherein registered immovable cultural property is situated shall be approved according to the levels of the institutions in charge of the approval of territorial planning:
1) at level of the State, the Government, an institution authorised by the Government and a county – subject to motivated conclusions of the Department and consent on co-ordination of prepared solutions of documents of territorial planning pursuant to the conditions of planning issued by the Department;
9. The master plans drawn up of the territories of counties or municipalities of the Republic of Lithuania must specify the protection measures of immovable cultural heritage covering various spheres of public life.
10. Where registered immovable cultural property is situated in a planned territory, consultations must be held with a specialist authorised by the Department on the drawing up of master, special and detailed plans.
11. The special planning documents of the protection of immovable cultural heritage shall be drafted by certified specialists and may also be drafted by legal persons, where the operations are headed by certified specialists and where territorial planning activities have been provided for in the articles of association of the legal persons. The procedure for certifying shall be laid down by the Minister of Environment and the Minister of Culture.
Article 23. Maintenance of Objects of Cultural Heritage
1. The maintenance of an object of cultural heritage shall be carried out:
2) pursuant to the regulations of maintenance operations of construction of a structure of cultural heritage (technical construction regulations) approved by the Minister of Environment and the Minister of Culture;
2. A design documentation of maintenance shall be prepared on the basis of the data of the Register of Cultural Property, the conclusions of the research required prior to designing and upon assessment of the environmental impact of planned economic activity, where this is carried out in the cases specified by the Law on the Environmental Impact Assessment of Planned Economic Activity. Heritage maintenance regulations shall establish the binding character and scope of the research conducted prior to designing and required for the assessment of the environmental impact.
3. Where new valuable properties are discovered during maintenance, operations shall be suspended in accordance with the procedure laid down by paragraph 3 of Article 9 of this Law. In order to make the discovered valuable properties known, additional research shall be conducted. On the basis of conclusions thereof, additional maintenance operations of an object of cultural heritage may be requested.
4. The objects of cultural heritage destroyed by natural disasters or man may, in exceptional cases and without posing threat to remnants, parts or elements thereof possessing valuable properties, be recreated, where:
1) the possibility of restoration is based on the thorough data of historical sources and physical research in order to avoid speculations;
2) an object possesses particular artistic or symbolic significance, is of especial importance to the fostering of the national consciousness and cultural heritage and matches the landscape character;
5. The removal of an object of cultural heritage shall be prohibited, except where the safeguarding of such an object makes removal imperative. All necessary precautions must be taken for its dismantling, transfer and reinstatement at a suitable location.
6. The right to prepare the design documentation of maintenance operations of heritage protection, to carry out maintenance operations of heritage protection, (special) expert examination of heritage protection and to head the said operations shall be vested in a specialist certified in accordance with the procedure approved by the Minister of Culture. Certain operations may be carried out by uncertified assistants under the supervision of a certified specialist in charge of the operations. The right of natural and legal persons to be the contractors of such activities or providers of services shall be established by this Law and other laws.
7. The right to be in charge of design documentation of the maintenance operations of construction of the structures of cultural heritage, such operations, supervision of the implementation of a design documentation, expert examination of the design documentation of the structure and technical supervision of construction of the structure shall be vested in a head of operations certified in accordance with the procedure approved by the Minister of Environment and the Minister of Culture conditional upon holding a business certificate or employment by an undertaking certified in accordance with the procedure approved by the Minister of Environment and the Minister of Culture.
8. The design conditions for a structure of cultural heritage concerning maintenance operations of construction (interim protection regulations) and permissions to carry them out shall be issued in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on Construction. Prior to issuing a permission, (special) expert examination of heritage protection pertaining to a design documentation of the operations must be carried out not later than within one month of the submission of the design documentation in accordance with the procedure approved by the Minister of Culture and expert examination of a design documentation of the structure - in the cases and in accordance with the procedure approved by the Minister of Environment and the Minister of Culture. The design documentation must be corrected in compliance with binding notes to the statements of the expert examinations prior to issuing permissions to carry out the operations. A permission to carry out maintenance operations of construction of a structure of cultural heritage shall be issued where the records of the Standing Commission on Construction recommending to issue the permission are signed by the representative of the Department and representative of the heritage protection subdivision of a municipality.
9. Prior to issuing a permission to carry out maintenance operations of heritage protection, (special) expert examination of heritage protection pertaining to a design documentation of the operations must be carried out in the cases and in accordance with the procedure approved by the Minister of Culture. The design documentation must be corrected in compliance with binding notes to the statement of the expert examination. Design conditions of maintenance operations of heritage protection (interim protection regulations) and permissions to carry out the operations shall be issued in accordance with the procedure approved by the Minister of Culture. The permissions shall be issued not later than within one month from the submission of a design documentation or a corrected design documentation.
10. The progress and quality of the implementation of a design documentation of the maintenance operations carried out at an object of cultural object shall be controlled by the manager, the Department and the heritage protection subdivision of a municipality. Upon establishing that during the operations, heritage protection requirements have been violated or that due to faults in the design documentation, threat of the loss of or damage to valuable properties has arisen, the public servants and authorised specialists of this subdivision as well as the public servants and specialists (heads of special copyright supervision) specified in other laws must notify thereof the Department and suspend the damaging or threat-posing operations. The suspension shall remain in force for 2 working days, where the Department does not take a decision confirming it and instructing to suspend the operations until violations of the heritage protection requirements or the threat posed are eliminated or until the decision of a court is taken.
11. Not later than 15 days prior to the filing of an application to obtain a permission to carry out operations, the entire design documentation of maintenance operations of a protected object of cultural heritage or of an object subject to the procedure of declaration as protected or the entire design documentation implementation whereof could affect the surrounding environment of the object must be submitted to the heritage protection subdivision of a municipality. Upon agreeing the decision with the Department, where this is required for the preservation of valuable properties, this subdivision shall have the right to require that a design documentation be corrected or supplemented until the issuance of a permission.
12. The procedure for accepting maintenance operations of objects of cultural heritage shall be approved by the Minister of Culture, with the exception of maintenance operations of construction of structures of cultural heritage and maintenance operations of green areas the procedure of accepting whereof shall be approved by the Minister of Environment and the Minister of Culture.
Article 24. Knowledge of Immovable Cultural Heritage, Dissemination of Knowledge and Public Use of Heritage
1. The knowledge of immovable cultural heritage shall be disseminated and the heritage shall be publicly used in the following manner:
1) possibilities shall be provided for the public to acquire direct knowledge and to develop awareness of it being under protection and made known in the historical surroundings;
2. Cultural and recreational tourism shall be one of the ways of the public use of cultural heritage. In order to continuously develop it, the authentic form of heritage must be preserved.
3. The Department as well as the heritage protection subdivisions of municipalities, directorates of state parks, cultural reserves shall, in co-operation with museums, libraries, archives, higher education and comprehensive schools:
1) collect, manage, systemise, protect and disseminate information on immovable cultural heritage and protection thereof;
3) publish the information bulletins popularising cultural heritage and protection thereof and organise the publication of heritage protection literature;
4) co-operate with the media in preparing radio and television programmes or written works on cultural heritage and protection thereof;
4. The Ministry of Education and Science shall, in co-operation with the Ministry of Culture:
1) organise the state programme for the basic research of immovable cultural heritage and co-ordinate implementation thereof;
2) ensure that the theoretical and practical knowledge of cultural heritage be included in pre-school education, general education of children and young people, educational programmes for adults;
3) provide the in-service training of teachers in the field of knowledge of cultural heritage and safeguarding thereof;
4) promote and support the educational institutions which organise and implement the events making knowledgeable about cultural heritage and the maintenance operations of this heritage provided for in protection programmes;
Article 25. Accessibility of Immovable Cultural Property
1. Every member of society shall have the right to become knowledgeable about immovable cultural property.
2. Where it is necessary to preserve a cultural monument and make it accessible to the public, the Government shall have the right to take over cultural monuments for public needs in accordance with the procedure laid down by laws.
3. The sample rules for admission to the objects of cultural heritage belonging to the State and municipalities shall be approved by the Government or an institution authorised by it.
4. The surveying of the interior of the structures of cultural heritage managed by the right of private ownership shall be subject to the consent of the manager. The conditions of admission and surveying may be laid down by a protection agreement.
5. In order to ensure that an object of cultural heritage could be adequately surveyed from the outside, the managers must allow to pass through the territory managed by them to surveying places.
6. Where an object of cultural heritage is surrounded on all sides by the land plots managed by the right of private ownership, owners thereof or other managers must grant the visitors access to this object.
7. When drawing up a plan of the territory and protection zones of an object of cultural heritage of public knowledge and use or a design documentation of heritage management, servitudes of access to objects of cultural heritage and places of surveying thereof must be provided for. These servitudes shall be formalised pursuant to the requirements of the Civil Code and the Law on Land.
8. Where visitors were granted access to an object of cultural heritage, but this right was not entered in documents of the right of ownership of the land plots surrounding the object, an institution in charge of protection thereof must organise the formalisation of such servitudes.
Article 26. Rehabilitation of Immovable Cultural Heritage
1. Immovable cultural heritage shall be integrated in public life by adapting it for use so that the valuable properties of heritage are best revealed and possibilities are provided to become knowledgeable about it as well as by enhancing cultural landscape.
2. Heritage shall be rehabilitated so that the public understands the importance of the heritage it possesses from the point of view of the national identity, social and economic welfare, civil society, national security and other points of view.
Article 27. Financing of the Protection of Immovable Cultural Heritage
1. The state programmes for the accounting, heritage management and control of immovable cultural heritage shall be financed from the state budget.
2. Immovable cultural property shall be made known and objects shall be declared protected by heritage protection allocations from the state and municipal budgets. The right to make a property known at own expense shall be vested in religious communities, societies and centres as well as public organisations of heritage protection.
3. The operations of keeping up a protected object shall be financed by the managers, maintenance operations – by the managers, where possible, partially by heritage management allocations from the state or municipal budgets, international funds and programmes or other sources of financing. The managers shall be applied the tax reliefs established by laws.
4. The Minister of Culture shall approve the programmes for the dissemination of knowledge and rehabilitation of immovable cultural heritage which are financed from the state budget, while municipal councils shall approve the programmes financed from municipal budgets as well as the procedure for financing of the said projects from the budgets.
5. The Department and the heritage protection subdivisions of municipalities shall finance the research required to be conducted prior to designing from heritage management allocations. These allocations may also be used to finance the operations of elimination of the threat of an accident at an object of cultural heritage in respect whereof a decision on the initiation of the declaration of it protected has been taken, equipment of technical protection devices and other urgent safeguarding operations. The list of the operations shall be approved by the Minister of Culture.
Article 28. Reimbursement to the Managers
1. Expenses for maintenance operations of heritage protection of a private property – a state-protected and publicly accessible item of cultural heritage – shall be reimbursed from the funds of the state budget allocated for the maintenance of immovable cultural heritage in accordance with the procedure and by the amount approved by the Government or an institution authorised by it. The expenses shall be reimbursed taking account of the significance of the object and the importance of the carrying out of the operations required for the preservation of the object.
2. Upon a decision of a municipal council, the municipality may, from its budgetary funds, reimburse expenses on maintenance operations of an object of cultural heritage declared protected and not belonging to the municipality by the right of ownership, but situated in its territory.
3. Upon the request of the institutions in charge of protection, the managers of the conserved structures under protection shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Minister of Culture, be reimbursed mothballing expenses.
4. Reimbursement shall be paid to the manager of an object of cultural heritage declared protected, where the established or tightened activity restrictions prohibiting previous activities actually reduce the profit obtained by the manager. The procedure for calculating and paying reimbursement shall be laid down by the Government or an institution authorised by it.
Article 29. Compensation for Damage to Immovable Cultural Property
1. The legal and natural persons who have done damage to an immovable cultural property by illegal actions at a protected object itself, in territory or protection zone thereof restore, to the maximum extent practicable, the condition prior to damage and compensate for direct and indirect losses incurred by the public and the manager, where damage has not been done by the manager himself.
2. An institution in charge of the protection of a protected object or site must propose to a person who has caused damage to restore the condition prior to damage and to compensate for the losses incurred by the public. Where no agreement is reached, the Department shall apply to the courts for the compensation of the damage done to the public and recovering of the losses.
3. The direct losses incurred by the State may include the expenditure of the state and municipal budgets on the maintenance of a damaged object, tourism income not received, the loss of an unknown source of scientific data and educational and schooling means. The expenditure of the state and municipal budgets on the making known or protection of a lost or damaged property may be included in indirect losses.
Article 30. Objects of Cultural Heritage Taken by the State
1. An improperly held object of cultural heritage may be taken into the ownership of the State in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Civil Code.
2. In exceptional cases, this object may, with a fair recompense, be taken by the State for public needs, where:
1) the object of cultural heritage is situated in a state cultural reserve (reserve-museum) set up or being set up;
2) a state museum or a branch of the state museum is set up for the exhibition of the valuable properties of the object of cultural heritage;
3. The procedure for taking of an object of cultural heritage (immovable item) shall be laid down by the Civil Code, the Law on Land and other laws. The owner shall be compensated at market price established under the Law on the Principles of Property and Business Valuation or by agreement between the parties – by transferring another item (property).
Article 31. Liability for Violations of this Law
The natural and legal persons in breach of the provisions of this Law shall be held liable under law.”
Article 2. Entry into Force of the Law
1. This Law shall enter into force 6 months after the date of the publication thereof in the official gazette Valstybės žinios.
2. The regulatory enactments specified by this Law must be drafted and approved within 6 months of the publication of the Law in the official gazette Valstybės žinios.
3. The Department of Cultural Heritage Protection under the Ministry of Culture and officials thereof shall exercise the functions and have the rights laid down by other laws to the Department of Cultural Properties of the Ministry of Culture and officials thereof prior to the entry into force of this Law.
Article 3. Protection of the Immovable Cultural Property Entered in State Accounting prior to the Entry into Force of this Law
1. All objects protected as immovable cultural property according to Article 9 of the Law Implementing the Law on the Protection of Immovable Cultural Properties shall be recognised as immovable cultural property registered in the Register of Cultural Property.
2. The immovable cultural property registered in the Register of Cultural Property prior to the entry into force of this Law may, by a decision of the Minister of Culture, be recognised protected from the day of registration thereof.
I promulgate this law passed by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania.