The role and tasks of the Monument Record and Register Department in the organisational structure of National Heritage Board of Poland

The National Heritage Board of Poland continues directly the activity of the first institution dealing with the collection, elaboration and popularisation of knowledge on historical monuments in Poland – the Centre for Documentation of Monuments, which was established in 1962. The organisational structure of the institution evolved, but among its priority tasks there were still documentation-related works: collection, elaboration and making available of the record of monuments in the form of record documentation and legal documentation of all registered monuments. The department which has carried out these tasks in a virtually unaltered manner is the current Monument Record and Register Department. The current tasks of the Department include also the elaboration of documentation standards, preparation of the record, keeping of the register of monuments and training of conservation services in this respect. Currently we are also supervising the performance of the monument register verification project – the description of the resource of monuments in Poland. These activities make it possible to provide successive generations with knowledge on the material culture of our ancestors, on authentic, transformed or defunct objects, complexes of objects and the cultural landscape. Our documentations are used in scientific studies and research works and constitute a basis for conservation projects. They are used for restoring the destroyed and defunct objects that constitute a significant element of national heritage. The Monument Record and Register Department collects, elaborates and provides access to knowledge on monuments in Poland in a continuous manner (under various names). MRRD collects duplicates of the documentation of monuments forming a part of the collection of the national record of monuments, which is elaborated for the needs of voivodeship conservators and by voivodeship conservators of monuments, that are sent to NHBP. The record as a form of documentation dates back to the middle of the 18th century and its legal grounds were established in 1928. The following record documentations are kept in the Monument Record and Register Department (amount as at 31.12.2011): • record cards of monuments of architecture and historic buildings (138,304 items, including 104,420 white cards and 33,884 green cards), • address cards of monuments (650,000), • records of historic greens (9,249), • record cards of cemeteries (25,367), • town planning files (1,274), • cards of movable monuments (371,876), • record cards of movable monuments of technology (9,710). Other forms of record documentation being used currently are the communal record of monuments and record lists of monuments. The regular updating of the list of shortages is one of the elements of the keeping of the central record of monuments in the activity of MRRD. Many activities concerning the documentation of monuments are performed in accordance with the well-established tradition. The challenging process that is necessary to carry out is the digitalisation of collections of the record. The central register of monuments has been kept as a primary form of monument protection since 1962. The Department maintains a uniform database system, which is understood as a specially developed kind of software (Multiarch). The database of objects entered into the register of monuments that is kept in NHBP is the only database in Poland that encompasses all legally protected non-movable and movable monuments. The verification of the register of nonmovable movements is an important task co-ordinated by the Monument Record and Register Department, which has been carried out by Local Divisions of NHBP since the end of 2008. Long-term plans of verification of the register of monuments apply to movable monuments, too. In practice, the performance of the main aforementioned tasks is often connected with additional activities, part of which is a consequence of the employees’ own initiative, knowledge and commitment as well as identification with the 50-year tradition and achievements of NHBP’s predecessors