The National Heritage Institute will announce a contract for new monument registration

Prague - The National Heritage Institute (NPÚ) will announce a contract in June for the creation of a new electronic system for the record-keeping of cultural monuments in the Czech Republic. This information was obtained by ČTK from the public procurement bulletin. The project, named the Heritage Catalog, is expected to cost ten million crowns excluding VAT and will be financed by European funds, said NPÚ spokesperson Jana Tichá to ČTK.
    In the Czech Republic, there are over 40,000 immovable monuments, and their list is publicly available. The current number of movable monuments is not accurate, but the recorded count is close to 100,000, with each movable or historical library collection recorded under one registration number, although it usually contains thousands of items, according to the NPÚ website. Due to the protection of movable monuments from theft and property protection, their list is not public.
    "The Heritage Catalog will provide comprehensive information and data about the monument fund, including photographs, descriptive information about the objects, or the extent of heritage protection through web services accessible to both state administration and the public, as well as electronic forms for submitting related applications," added the spokesperson.
    Thus, it will not only create a modern, clear system for recording the Central List of Cultural Monuments, which will replace the existing, nearly 20-year-old, and morally and technically outdated MonumIS recording system. State heritage care workers also have access to other non-public databases focused, for example, on archaeological data, movable collections, or library collections. A portion of the MonumNet database is publicly accessible, where basic information about immovable monuments can be searched.
    The need for a new system for recording movable monuments, especially artworks, was highlighted by the case of the record sale of a painting by František Kupka two years ago. It is not entirely clear whether the artwork Tvar modré is a monument or not. However, for the owner of the work, information about heritage protection is essential. If the work is a monument, it cannot be permanently exported from the country, which limits its sale options.
    Both the NPÚ and the Ministry of Culture officially asserted several weeks after the auction that Kupka's painting is a monument. However, before the auction, the NPÚ informed the owner of the painting that the artwork is not a separately declared monument. Officials added that it may be included in the Waldes collection, "but there is no mention anywhere that this collection, although proposed, has been declared a cultural monument." The painting was indeed part of the Waldes collection, which was proposed for designation as a monument. However, it is unclear whether the declaration process was completed.
    NPÚ's response was inaccurate, but such responses are common from the institute, according to ČTK's source. The system for recording monuments often does not allow it to respond with "absolute certainty." The outdated program was not designed for such types of questions—it is merely a list. The only reliable search criterion is the monument's registration number or the exact name of the object stated in the Ministry of Culture's decision.
    "Compared to the current state, the system will allow searching by various criteria and will be connected to one of the basic registries—the Registry of Territorial Identification, Addresses, and Properties. The Heritage Catalog will become a main component of the already existing Integrated Information System of Heritage Care, which the broad user public has been waiting for," says the NPÚ spokesperson.