The State Institute of Monument Care and Nature Conservation was the predecessor of NPÚ

Prague - Long-standing efforts to legislate heritage preservation in the Czech lands culminated in the adoption of the Cultural Heritage Act, according to which the National Institute of Heritage Care and Nature Protection was established on July 1, 1958. The same law also introduced the declaration of national cultural monuments (NCM), representing the most valuable part of the cultural heritage. The first list of 33 NCMs was proclaimed by the Czechoslovak government in March 1962, and today there are already about 370 national cultural monuments.

The history of heritage care in our country dates back to the second half of the 18th century when, during the reign of Maria Theresa, regulations were issued requiring the reporting of finds of historical artifacts. However, it took more than a century for the heritage office to be established in the Habsburg Empire in 1911, and seven years later, the Regional Heritage Office for the Kingdom of Bohemia was created (1918, even before the dissolution of the monarchy). This was transformed into the State Heritage Office after the establishment of an independent Czechoslovakia.

Even during the First Republic, despite calls from experts, a special heritage law was not created; Czechoslovakia had to wait until the end of the 1950s for this. A new norm was accepted in April 1987, and despite the opinion of experts on the need for a completely new law, it remains in effect with several amendments to this day. For example, two years after November 1989, the care for nature was separated from the institute and taken over by the Ministry of the Environment, and since January 2003, the heritage institute has been transformed into the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ).

NPÚ serves several roles - it keeps a record of cultural monuments and engages in documenting their history, with the most visible activity of NPÚ being the assessment of modifications and projects for the reconstruction of heritage-protected sites. This largest contributory organization of the Ministry of Culture also manages about a hundred state-owned monuments, including castles, chateaux, and other sites that are open to the public. Last year, approximately 3.5 million people visited these monuments, a third less than before the COVID pandemic.