Country Summary for CZECH REPUBLIC

(1) The Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic (hereinafter referred to as "Ministry of Culture") designates as cultural monuments under the present Act all movable or immovable objects or sets thereof which:

(a) being manifestations of man's creative ability and his work in various fields of human activity, are important documents of historical development, of the way of life, and of social environment from the oldest historical periods up to the present, because of their revolutionary, historical, artistic, scientific and technological value;

(b) directly relate to important personalities and historical events.

(2) Sets of objects which as a whole fall within the definition of para. 1 shall be designated as cultural monuments even if some of the objects within the set are not cultural monuments. (Act No. 20 1987 §2)

 

'Archaeological find'—object (or set of objects) which is a document or remnant of man's life and activity from the beginning of his development up to the present age and has been preserved usually underground. (Act No. 20 1987 § 23(1))

 

'Collection of museum character (collection)'—a collection which, in its entirety, is significant for prehistory, history, art, literature, technology, natural or social sciences; it consists of collection items accumulated by human activity. (Act No. 122 2000 Art. 2)

'Collection item'—movable or immovable object (or a set of such objects), which is either a product of nature, or a human creation. (Act No. 122 2000 Art. 2)

 

'Cultural objects'—natural objects or human artifacts or sets of these which are significant for history, literature, art or science and meet the criteria contained in Appendix No. 1 to this Act. (1994 Act §1)

[The 1994 Act] does not apply to cultural monuments and national monuments, collection items, archive items, and items which are the originals of works of art, by living authors. (1994 Act §1)

 

Cultural monuments shall be registered in the Central Registry of Cultural Monuments in the Czech Republic (hereinafter referred to as "Central Registry"). The Central Registry shall be administered by the specialized organization of the state care of monuments. (Act No. 20 1987 §7(1))

 

(2) In the central records, the Ministry shall register the collections owned by the Czech Republic or by a territorial self-administration unit. Collections belonging to other owners may be registered in the central records on the basis of a decision issued by the Ministry upon the application of the owner. (Act No. 122 2000 Art.3 (2))