EN
In his article concerning basic terms applied in the protection of historical monuments such as: monuments or cultural property, the author had stressed the overwhelming value ascribed to objects from the past which preseve our memory. His most recent polemic with Dr M. Szmygin returns to this topic and indicates that our appreciation of artistic, historic and scientific merits should not lead to the neglect of the patriotic aspect which is the motor force of a majority of endeavours concerned with the protection of historical monuments. Hence the individual approach to objects of culture as well as the individual rights, obligations and responsibility which stem from individual interest in the preservation of memory; these fundamental interests are superior to their so-called social counterparts. The role of public administration in assisting, inspiring, supporting and controlling the protection of historical monuments is much more acceptable than steering „national culture”. Dr Szmygin was correct in maintaining that some keepsakes have lost thei value but it must be borne in mind that this process was very often the outcome of ideological manipulation conducted by historiography. Words, and even legal terms, are not decisive for the purposefulness of the protection of historical monument but ignoring them could render the individual attitude to historical monuments useless, and become an embarrassing inheritance of the once „leading ideology”.