The Two Most Important Twenty-First Century Disputes in Cultural Heritage Law

Abstract

The aim of the article is to emphasise how important in cultural heritage law are and how significant in the future will be the two discussions called (1) liberalism versus communitarianism and (2) nationalism versus universalism.

In 2010 Derek Gillman wrote the book titled “The Idea of Cultural Heritage”, where he not settled but perfectly recognised the most important cultural heritage disputes—both on philosophical and practical levels. The aim of the article is to follow this idea and show how important they are becoming currently and how significant they will be in the future. This is exactly the status controversy of most important discussions about cultural heritage and its protection today. Hence, it is necessary to take it into account in all important considerations of cultural heritage law.

It is also worth mentioning that Gillman describing the idea of cultural heritage and trying to find answers follows some concepts of Ronald Dworkin, Joseph Raz, Will Kymlicka, etc. The traditional civil law approach in the case of cultural property seems to be no longer sufficient. Of course, cultural goods are always under some rights, including the ownership of cultural property in the first position. On the other hand, cultural heritage belongs not only to a particular people and place but also to all humankind. Hence, the discussions called (1) liberalism versus communitarianism and (2) nationalism versus universalism must be taken into account in all important considerations on cultural heritage and its law.