The Directorate for Cultural Heritage

The Directorate is responsible for making a professional contribution to the Ministry´s work relating to the protection of cultural monuments as an integrated part of environmental policy. The Directorate also has an advisory function for other parts of the public administration, the general public and the business sector. In matters where the Directorate exercises authority pursuant to special legislation, both cultural heritage and other considerations of importance to society shall be used as a basis for the decisions.

The responsibility for the implementation of national cultural heritage policy is vested with the Directorate for Cultural Heritage, which in this connection has overriding responsibility for the work of the counties, the administrative museums, the Governor´s Office on Svalbard and the Council for Sami Cultural Heritage as regional cultural heritage authorities. The Directorate shall initiate special measures to encourage municipalities to take necessary account of cultural monuments and cultural environments as important elements and – resources in their surroundings.

The Directorate for Cultural Heritage shall safeguard cultural monuments and cultural environments as important values in terms of knowledge, experience and use, and shall also contribute to providing a solid foundation for the sustainable use of natural resources and cultural monuments in a constantly changing society. The goal must be that changes must result in a minimal loss of cultural heritage values.

The main strategies to achieve the objectives are to:

• ensure that cultural monuments and cultural environments are used and managed in such a way that their values are preserved and activated as contributions to sustainable development
• ensure that the protection of cultural monuments and cultural environments have considerable geographical, social, ethnical and temporal breadth
• ensure that cultural monuments and cultural environments are taken into account in connection with the use of land, the design of construction projects and relevant conversions and extensions
• participate in international cooperation in order to contribute to safeguarding cultural rights, exchanging knowledge and establishing the protection of cultural heritage as an important element of cross-sectoral environmental protection.

Web page: https://www.riksantikvaren.no/en/