THE RISE AND FALL OF THE PROTECTION OF HISTORICAL MONUMENTS - SELECTED PROBLEMS CONCERN FOR THE SACRAL INTERIOR AS A CONDITION FOR THE SATISFACTORY STATE OF THE PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS

The article brings the reader closer to the state of preservation of sacral monuments in Poland, where churches whose conservation entails enormous funds are accompanied by abandoned, neglected and devastated objects. The state of many is the outcome of the post-war policy adapted by the Polish state. Deportations of the Protestant and Eastern rite population led to the depopulation of terrains earlier inhabited by them and thus to depriving numerous churches of their users. Nevertheless, devastation affected, and still does, also Catholic churches which have their own administrators but are devoid of funds and are situated in terrains with a poor population. The threats presented in the article, which stem also from the neglected duties by the church administrators, or the absence of awareness about the principles of concern for church interiors, frequently become the reason for the lamentable state of the preservation of historical objects. Well aware of this state of affairs, the National Centre for Monuments Study and Documentation has embarked upon the task of preparing and presenting 'Zasady dbalosci o wnetrze sakralne' (The Principles of Concern for the Sacral Interior) addressed to church administrators. The authoress proposes a brief outline of the contents of the text whose intention is to consider possibilities for preventing the devastation of historical monuments thanks to daily care and the creation of suitable conditions for their preservation; such efforts frequently save the 'life' of historical objects and can be conducted at a small cost. The presented text is, therefore, a 'sui generis' instruction dealing with the principles of care for every sort of historical object which could be encountered in a church. Furthermore, it contains useful advice addressed to the users of sacral objects and indicates assorted sources of financing both the conservation and the basic protection of churches; the authoress also recalled legal acts passed by the Polish Sejm and Episcopate, relating to the protection of historical monuments. The article demonstrates also positive cases of administering abandoned churches and an exemplary prevention of the devastation, and encourages their emulation