Cultural Heritage of Serbia


Cultural heritage of Serbia represents the totality of national cultural heritage in Serbia as defined by Serbia's Law on Cultural Goods. Some of national heritage sites in Serbia are also World Heritage Sites.

Classification

The cultural heritage of Serbia is classified and categorized by the law. Primarily, it is divided into two main groups, first including tangible cultural heritage, and second including intangible cultural heritage.
Tangible cultural heritage is further classified as immovable and movable. The first group includes historical and architectural monuments, historical and archeological sites, cultural and historical landscapes. The second group includes works of art, archival and museum artifacts, old and rare books etc.

Protection

The preservation and protection of cultural heritage sites in Serbia is entrusted to the National Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments. The Institute maintains the Central Register of Cultural Heritage. The Register currently lists 2,458 heritage sites classified in four categories: cultural monuments, archaeological sites, historic landmarks and spatial cultural-historical units. 200 of those are classified as being "of exceptional importance", and thus entitled to the highest level of protection. Further 582 are classified as being "of great importance", while the rest are "unclassified".

Cultural Heritage of Exceptional Importance

Those sites enjoy the highest level of the state protection, as defined by the Law. In order to be on the list, properties must meet at least one of the following criteria:
There are currently 2592 objects of immovable cultural heritage inscribed in the Central Register, 200 of which are categorized as being of "of exceptional importance" and 582 of "of great importance".