Austria Celebrates 2023 Anniversary Year to the Preservation of Historical Monuments

More+Events ♦ Published: February 15, 2023; 23:27 ♦ (Vindobona)

In 1923, the Austrian Monument Protection Act was passed by the National Council. In the anniversary year 2023, the Federal Office for the Protection of Monuments invites you to a series of events throughout Austria that present the diversity and variety of Austrian monuments and the people behind them.

Austria celebrates 100 years of the Austrian Monument Protection Act and highlights its importance. / Picture: © Dennis Jarvis/ Flickr Attribution (CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

Monuments shape Austria's living environment. There is probably no community that does not have at least one monument. They can connect generations and are open to new ideas.

In the anniversary year 2023, there will be events all over Austria. These can be found here!

The events want to show the variety and diversity of Austria's cultural heritage and allow talking together about current and challenging topics on monument protection and preservation.

About the Monument Protection Act

A few years after the end of the First World War, the young republic set a milestone in the preservation of monuments with the passing of the Austrian Monument Protection Act by the National Council on September 25, 1923. Admittedly, the monarchy had already had a central committee with the "k.k. Zentralkommission", the monarchy had already had a state institution since 1850, which eventually became the Bundesdenkmalamt (Federal Office for the Protection of Monuments), but there was no law for the protection of monuments.

Since 1923, the Federal Monuments Office has had the legal mandate to enforce the public interest in the preservation of our cultural heritage. However, the Monument Protection Act also provides the framework for responding to ever-changing needs while preserving monuments sustainably and in their historical, artistic and cultural significance. Last year, for example, the Federal Office for the Protection of Monuments focused on the energy efficiency of monuments under the motto "Monument Protection = Climate Protection".

Federal Chancellery of Austria