The article tries to give an insight to the issue of the legal protection of archaeological monuments in Polish and international law. The scope of work includes the description and comparison of the most important legal acts regulating the protection of archaeological sites in Poland and at the international level. Besides Polish law, the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and the European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (Revised) are taken into consideration. The most important issues concerning the legal protection of archaeological heritage are formulation of a correct definition of archaeological heritage and the scope of enactment of the legal acts devoted to the protection of cultural heritage and archaeological sites. This paper presents the controversies concerning the subject, especially taking into account the difficulties in the creation of a synthetic and precise definition of an archaeological monument.
The Act of 13th July 2023 amending the Act on the Protection and Care of Monuments constitutes a radical change to the previously existing regulations concerning the search for portable antiquities in Poland using electronic or technical devices. The main modification is waiving the requirement to obtain permission from the Provincial Heritage Conservation Officer for an amateur search for portable antiquities, including archaeological finds. In its place, a system of reporting the surveys via a mobile application will be introduced. This paper compares the current and the new Polish regulations with the solutions successfully adopted in Denmark and analyses the effectiveness of the existing Polish regulations using the available statistical data and considering critical opinions.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.