Building authorities should only have a part of the heritage agenda, says the Ministry of Culture

Prague - According to the draft of the new building law, only a part of the agenda of state monument preservation should be transferred to the competence of building authorities. This would concern the approval of constructions in protective zones of immovable cultural monuments, immovable national cultural monuments, heritage reserves, and heritage zones. The agenda concerning cultural and national cultural monuments as well as heritage reserves and zones should remain in its current form.

In response to a question from ČTK, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Culture (MK), Martha Häckl, stated this today. She reacted to the information from the Association for the Protection and Development of Cultural Heritage of the Czech Republic, which stated in a press release that during the comment procedure regarding the bill, the Ministry of Culture required a complete integration of monument care into the system of building administration.

"The MK never requested the integration of monument care as a whole into the newly established system of the state building authority. The MK strongly opposed the vision that the agenda of state monument care could be functionally divided into two completely separate regimes. Even the reconstruction of buildings such as the National Museum, the State Opera, or the Spa I in Karlovy Vary demonstrates, in the view of the MK, the illusory nature of the vision that it would be possible to divide the approval regime of a single construction project into construction and non-construction aspects," stated Martin Zídek, director of the Monument Inspection of the MK, to ČTK.

The idea of full integration of monument care was one of the considered options before the creation of the draft bill. During the comment procedure, the MK then rejected the idea of fully integrating monument care into the competence of building authorities, and the authors of the draft law, representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry for Regional Development, accepted these comments according to Zídek.

The spokesperson today cited the resolution of several comments, according to which only the agenda concerning the mentioned protective zones, of which there are approximately 450, would fall under the competence of building authorities. The agenda concerning cultural and national cultural monuments, heritage reserves, and heritage zones would remain preserved in the existing mixed model of public administration.

The same regime as before would apply to monuments listed on the UNESCO list as well as for nominations submitted by the Czech Republic. Even after the adoption of the new building law, the existing system will be maintained, whereby the state monument care authority, within its powers, uses the professional assistance of the National Heritage Institute, states the ministry. "For both the agenda integrated into the competence of the state building authority and for the agenda that remains in the mixed model of public administration, professional assistance will be provided by the NPÚ," states the MK.

The draft law concerning monument care is criticized by some experts, including the aforementioned association as well as a branch of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and a group of historians and architects from the academic sphere. They are concerned that the proposal only considers documentation for territorial proceedings as the basis for the approval of all constructions, which they believe does not address all aspects of monument restoration. Furthermore, according to the proposal, a binding opinion from conservators would not be necessary for the approval of construction.