Evaluation of the value of modernism monuments from the 1st half of the XXth century. Proposals of the classification methods

The work discusses all the attempts at assessing the value of the 20th-century monuments so far and mentions the most important Polish studies aimed at evaluating the 20th-century buildings. It also presents the criteria for architecture protection prepared in relation to regulations introducing the notion of contemporary culture heritage included in the act about spatial planning passed in 2003.
The work supports using the criteria for assessing the value of 20th-century buildings in accordance to the currently binding Old Monuments Protection Law. Those would involve artistic value – the form of the object or complex, its quality and impact – European, over-regional and local; scientific value – authenticity of idea, material, function; construction, material, over-regional and local novelty; and historic value – of the place, people, events – European, over-regional and local. It was also suggested to diversify the value of monuments into that of European, over-regional and local rank. In case of individual monuments it would be necessary to apply the following criteria: determining the values absolutely protected, values possible to transform, and values lost but needed to recreate/reconstruct. The rule saying that the higher the rank of the building, the larger the range of protection would have to be applied. The basis for selecting outstanding monuments of the 20th century should be source documents verified by later literature and current research studies.
The selection of outstanding buildings of the 20th century ought to possess three features: it should be simple and clear due to precisely defined categories and using the smallest possible number of evaluating criteria; it should conform with the Polish law; and it must allow for actual selection instead of mindless multiplying of subsequent groups of valuable monuments and values difficult to define.
Assessing the value of modernist monuments and selecting the most valuable buildings should constitute the basis for establishing the varying degree of protection for monuments from that period.