Legal Protection and Administration of Manors' Heritage in the Soviet and Post-Soviet Lithuania

Protection of manor heritage for many years has been one of the major concerns of heritage protection in Lithuania. Foremost this is due to the fact that manor are complex objects, that cannot be preserved without regular upkeep, their maintenance, especially if they are not in use, being high-priced. There the problem arise about a clash of interests among the state, users and heritage protectors, the problem being attempted to handle by means of legal acts. Only there is a doubt, if this always can bring to a success? Lately manor heritage and its protection issues are time and again spoken or written about, but in reality too little is being done to change the situation. The issue is not new, though currently new tendencies can be seen as regards their usage. If earlier the key vision of a revitalised manor was restitution of its original function, so lately a country-seat is pictured as a place for country tourism, for a hotel or a conference-room, and, eventually, for a private summer-house, in which farming is not likely to be undertaken. The aim of the Master’s Paper is to identify and assess the situation of manor heritage protection in soviet and post-soviet times according to the results in legislation and heritage administration. The object of study – a manor or a palivark and its heritage protection issues. A manor as an element of a certain settlement system, which occupies a certain estate for houses and plants, open water-pools, farmlands network of roads and pathways as well as other minor facility elements, that are integral for residential, economic, manufacturing and other functions. The concept of administration in this paper is used to define the state‘s relation to the manor under its control, their protection and maintenance, as well as relations of administrators, users and owners to the property under their control or ownership. Chronology limits of the period under study is adoption of Cultural Heritage Protection Law (20-06-1940) and foundation of Cultural Heritage Protection institution and then ongoing first soviet occupation. The period of study finishes with the end of 2005. According to chronological periods the Paper is divided into three parts – the first soviet occupation of 1940-1944, later period of German occupation and the war, and the period of soviet occupation of 1944-1990 as well as the period of the Republic of Lithuania between 1990 and 2005