Key information about the National Institute of Cultural Heritage
A. National Institute of Cultural Heritage: MISSION
The mission of the Institute is to create the foundations for sustainable cultural heritage protection in order to preserve it for future generations by setting and popularising standards for the protection and conservation of monuments, shaping public awareness of the value and preservation of cultural heritage, and collecting and disseminating knowledge about heritage.
B. A brief outline of the history of the Institute
The National Institute of Cultural Heritage is the legal successor of the Monuments Documentation Centre, established in 1962 in order to “improve the inventory of monuments for the rational planning of their reconstruction and conservation”. In 2002, through the merger of the Monuments Documentation Centre and the Historical Landscape Protection Centre, the National Monuments Research and Documentation Centre (KOBiDZ) was established. On 1 January 2007, by virtue of a decree of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, the Centre for the Protection of Archaeological Heritage was incorporated into KOBiDZ, which meant the establishment of a new cultural institution under the previous name. On 1 January 2011, KOBiDZ changed its name to the National Institute of Cultural Heritage. The institution, with its new name and amended statute, adapted to the challenges facing the system of preservation of historical monuments at the time, continued the idea of protecting and making cultural heritage accessible to a wide range of audiences.
Subsequent changes in the Institute took place in 2014 and consisted in updating the statutes and Organisational Rules of Procedure of NID.
On 31 January 2020 the Minister of Culture and National Heritage once again granted a new statute adapted to the current needs related to the protection and guardianship of monuments, which resulted in the implementation on 1 July 2020 of a new organisational structure of the Institute in order to more effectively carry out the NID mission.
C. Legal framework for the functioning of the Institute
The National Institute of Cultural Heritage is a state cultural institution which operates on the basis of the following legal acts:
- Act of 25 October 1991 on the organisation and conduct of cultural activities (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1983 and of 2019, items 115, 730, 1696 and 2020),
- Act of 23 July 2003 on the protection and guardianship of monuments (Journal of Laws of 2018, items 2067 and 2245 and of 2019 items 730 and 1696),
- the statute attached to the Order of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of 30 January 2020 (item 5).
D. Statutory tasks of the Institute
The statutory tasks of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage include in particular:
1. creation and promotion of standards for documentation, research, conservation and digitisation of movable, immovable and archaeological monuments,
2. inclusion, at the request of the minister or the General Monuments Inspector, in the process of evaluation and improvement of the system of protection and guardianship of monuments and the process of protection of intangible heritage,
3. issuing opinions and expert opinions on actions on monuments for public administration bodies,
4. monitoring and analysing threats to cultural heritage and developing methods to counter these threats, including in particular sites from the UNESCO World Heritage List and those recognised as monuments of history,
5. publishing and promoting publications on the protection and guardianship of cultural heritage,
6. the implementation of specialist training and information programmes for monument protection services and communities associated with the care of monuments,
7. cooperation with owners and managers of monuments for the proper management of cultural heritage resources and promoting the principles of care for monuments,
8. implementation of programmes and social campaigns to promote cultural heritage and its values, as well as the idea of preservation of historical monuments and caring for monuments,
9. implementation of educational programmes and undertaking cooperation in the field of social education for the protection and guardianship of tangible and intangible heritage,
10. undertaking cooperation to increase public involvement in the system for identifying and protecting cultural heritage,
11. collecting, developing, archiving and making available knowledge about the state of preservation and values of the cultural heritage resources, including scientific collections related to heritage conservation,
12. gathering and management of the documentation resources of the register of historic monuments and the National Inventory of Monuments, as well as inventory of archaeological research conducted in Poland,
13. running and developing a nationwide digital system for collecting and making available cultural heritage data, including geolocalisation data,
14. coordinating the implementation of the procedure of applying to the Minister for recognition by the President of the Republic of Poland of an immovable monument as a monument of history,
15. implementation of tasks resulting from agreements, conventions and other documents ratified by Poland, related to the protection and guardianship of tangible and intangible heritage, within the scope entrusted by the Minister,
16. conducting, in agreement with the Minister, international cooperation in the field of protection and guardianship of cultural heritage,
17. organising and carrying out other works related to the protection of cultural heritage at the request of the Minister or General Monuments Inspector.
The Institute carries out its tasks in cooperation with monument protection services and other organisational units specialising in the preservation of historical monuments and care of monuments, including universities, scientific institutions, cultural institutions, museums, churches and religious associations, as well as governmental and local government administration and non-governmental organisations.