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.

Immovable Cultural heritage

The preservation and protection of the Immovable cultural heritage sites in Serbia is entrusted to the National Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments. The institute maintains the Central Register of the Immovable Cultural Heritage. The Register currently lists 2,624 heritage sites classified in four categories: cultural monuments, archaeological sites, historic landmarks and spatial cultural-historical units. Exactly 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".
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:
  • Embodies special significance pertaining to the social, historical and cultural development of peoples in the nation's history and development of the nation's natural environment;
  • Testifies to crucial historical events and personalities and their activities in the nation's history;
  • Is a unique or rare representation of the human creativity of a certain time period or a unique example from natural history;
  • Exhibits exceptional artistic or aesthetic value.

Lists

In the Central Register there are currently 2624 registered immovable cultural properties, out of which 2256 are cultural monuments, 93 are spatial cultural-historical units, 196 are archaeological sites and 79 are historic landmarks. There are 782 classified immovable cultural properties, out of which 200 are of exceptional importance, and 582 of great importance.
Among immovable cultural properties of exceptional importance there are 155 monuments of culture, 11 spatial cultural-historical units, 18 archaeological sites and 16 landmarks. Among cultural properties of great importance, there are 512 monuments of culture, 28 spatial cultural-historical units, 25 archaeological sites and 17 landmarks.

By district