Policy and Law in Heritage Conservation

This book has been developed in association with the Cultural Heritage Department of the Council of Europe. It examines key themes and objectives for the protection of the architectural and archaeological heritage in a range of European countries. It includes countries of the west that have already made significant progress in developing systems for the protection of the immovable heritage, but also a smaller group to illustrate the situation in countries currently in the process of reforming their legislation and institutions in the field, particularly central and eastern Europe.

For each of the country studies in the book, the authors broadly cover a number of common themes: definition of the built heritage; identification of the heritage; the preservation and protection of the heritage; conservation philosophy; sanctions and coercive measures; integrated conservation; financial resources; funding mechanisms and the regeneration of historic environments; the role of agencies and specialist organisations; and education and training.

Through these themes, this book provides evidence of the different legal and policy mechanisms utilised for the protection of the built heritage within Europe. The analysis of individual countries and the group as a whole gives an assessment of how advanced current mechanisms are and the ongoing problems that remain to be managed in order to safeguard the 'common heritage'.

Xerardo Estevez, Manana Simonishvili, Juris Dambis, Anthony Pace, Nathaniel Cutajar, Bruno Coussy, Christoph Schwarzkopf, Silvia Bruggemann, Milos Drdacky, Giorgio Gianighian, Elene Negussie, David Lo