The draft of the new law aims to re-evaluate all monuments in the Czech Republic

Prague - One of the working versions of the new monument law being prepared by the Ministry of Culture includes a revision of all monuments in the Czech Republic. The revision is to be completed within ten years, while the entire heritage fund contains hundreds of thousands of items. Heritage officials are concerned that several thousand currently protected buildings or other monuments may be removed from the list. This was reported today by Czech Television (ČT).
    According to the proposal, decisions would be made regarding a total of 37,000 buildings in the Czech Republic and nearly one million items in the movable heritage fund. Some heritage officials fear the consequences if the revision is not completed within the designated ten-year period. In addition to the state, a large portion of the monuments is owned by churches, municipalities, and also private individuals, who could treat unregistered monuments carelessly.
    Buildings could face a similar fate as the historical Komuna in Přerov last year: six months after the building was removed from the list of monuments, a private company demolished it. Heritage officials also point out that the principle that registered cultural monuments cannot be permanently exported abroad only applies to registered monuments.
    Culture Minister Václav Jehlička (KDU-ČSL) told ČT that the proposal is still merely a draft, and therefore he will not comment on it. Shadow Culture Minister Vítězslav Jandák (ČSSD) believes that revising all monuments in ten years is not feasible.
    The Ministry of Culture has promised a public debate on the substantive intention of the new monument law. Its main theses are to be presented in the coming weeks.