About Us

In 1990, following the restoration of Lithuania's independence, the Inspectorate of Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Lithuania with the responsibility for preservation of cultural heritage was established and the Monument Management Department was founded. Upon the adoption of the Law on the Protection of Immovable Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Lithuania in 1994, the Inspectorate of Cultural Heritage and the Monument Management Department were reorganised by setting up the Department for Protection of Cultural Properties (as from 2005, the Department of Cultural Heritage) accountable to the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania. County divisions of the Inspectorate of Cultural Heritage were reorganised into territorial divisions of the Department of Cultural Heritage under the Ministry of Culture (hereinafter – the Department).

The Department of Cultural Heritage performs the functions of the protection of immovable cultural heritage and movable cultural properties assigned to it by laws and other legal acts; these functions include maintenance and management of cultural properties, maintenance of accounting and control of cultural heritage, as well as presentation of cultural heritage to the society; the Department also contributes to the formation and implementation of national policies in the area of protection of cultural heritage. 

The Department prepares and conducts the following programmes: Heritage management, Cultural heritage accounting, State administration of cultural heritage protection, Dissemination of knowledge about immovable cultural heritage, Compensations to managers of cultural heritage entities, the Special programme of research and services of immovable cultural heritage as well as the programme of implementation of the Agreement between the Republic of Lithuania and the Holy See on cooperation in the area of education and culture.