Denkmalpflege

Preserving our cultural heritage as part of history is a task for the state.

The historically evolved cultural landscapes, cities and towns provide us and future generations with opportunities to develop individually and identify with the land. They are a piece of home.

Preserving this cultural heritage, a testimony to our history, is also the responsibility of the state.

This obligation on the part of the state also means that it must intervene in questions of monument preservation. It fulfills its responsibility by protecting monuments from inappropriate changes that destroy their historical value. It helps monument owners to bear the additional costs of preserving cultural monuments through tax relief and financial grants, and it advises them on professional preservation.

Cultural monuments are objects from the past that

• evidence, in particular of intellectual or artistic creation, craftsmanship or technical activity or historical events and developments,
• traces or remains of human life or characteristic features of towns and communities and
• there is a public interest in their preservation and maintenance or their scientific research and documentation for historical, scientific, artistic or urban planning reasons.

Cultural monuments are protected by law, i.e. they do not require separate official protection. However, only the status as a monument is decisive for protection, even if the object is not included on the list.

The preservation of historical monuments is mainly divided into

• Preservation of architectural monuments
• Preservation of archaeological monuments - it deals with archaeology and paleontology (fossils)

The first point of contact is usually the lower monument protection authority, which is located in the district administrations and the administrations of the independent cities.

Further information and contact addresses can be found on the website of the State Monument Conservation Authority.