The function of the inventory of monuments in the heritage protection system – the informative role or the legal form of protection?

he aim of this article is to examine the functions of the monuments inventory within the current system of heritage protection and to consider its potential role in a new system of monument protection. The first part outlines the historical development of the inventory, tracing its evolution from a purely informational role to a legal basis for formal decisions concerning activities affecting monuments. The subsequent section identifies and analyses the functions of the respective inventories—the national, voivodeship, and municipal—within the contemporary system of heritage protection. The next part addresses the most significant issues related to the monuments inventory, including the failure by municipalities to establish municipal inventories, dependence of the archaeological heritage protection on the voivodeship inventory, judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal declaring the procedure for including monuments in the municipal inventory unconstitutional, and the difficulties faced by monument owners in determining the scope of protection afforded to their properties. The following section is devoted to the verification of inventories—taking into account the distinct characteristics of architectural and archaeological monuments—as well as to the issues related to the inventorying and documentation of monuments. The article concludes with remarks on the potential role of the inventory in a new system of heritage protection, envisaged as a legal form of monument protection.